Book Description
War is now an important part of development discourse. Aid agencies have become involved in humanitarian assistance, conflict resolution and the social reconstruction of war-torn societies. This deeply thoughtful book explores the growing merger of development and security. Its author unravels the nature of the new wars - in Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia - and the response of the international community, in particular the new systems of global governance that are emerging as a result.
The breakdown of order is seen as symptomatic of long-term social processes: economic crisis, the social exclusion of wide strata of populations and internal conflict. Instead of the historic goals of modernity, development to reduce inequality, and a central role for the state, we have a neo-medieval situation in which overlapping and fragmented sovereignties confront an increasingly weakened central authority.
The consequences, as Duffield shows, are far-reaching. Development now focuses primarily on the shortcomings of structures within the South. Aid is privatized. A rising level of violence and misery are accepted as normal, and new forms of humanitarian aid intervention, far from solving the problem, accommodate and coexist with this instability and inequality. Pessimistic perhaps, but this book is profound in its insights and pregnant with policy implications.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for Serious Thinkers of International Affairs.......2007-01-08
Professor Mark Duffield has done the near impossible, he has given a detailed description and explanation of one of the most complex assemblages ever devised: the post-Cold War, free market/free trade-driven international order. In excruciating detail, professor Duffield explains how the WTO-structured global economic system - what we think of as "globalization" - works to: attenuate state power, deregulate and disrupt traditional economies, create ever-more "complex and opaque forms of transaction and ownership," and essentially restructures international governing bodies to fit into this new world system. Professor Duffield manages to do this with no discernible political "spin." His gaze is unremitting and clear-eyed whether it falls on corrupt third-world governments, U.N. and NGO developmental types, western donor nations, politicians of all stripes, or African and Afghani warlords.
If one wants to understand the underlying forces driving the conflicts extant in today's world and the global community's responses to these crises, there is no better place to start than with professor Duffield's "Global Governance and the New Wars."
Book Description
Applies the concept of space to international relations to arrive at novel interpretations.
Book Description
Governance is an easy-to read introduction to an increasingly important concept in political science. It provides a clear overview of how the concept has been used in the sub-fields of public administration and public policy, international relations, European studies and comparative politics. There is no universally accepted and agreed definition of 'governance'. It remains an elusive theory, defined and conceptualized in various ways. In this book, Anne Mette Kjaer guides the reader through the key theoretical debates which have given rise to distinct interpretations of governance. Drawing on a wide range of empirical examples to illustrate her arguments, the author explores how governance has been used in different ways to describe political changes in the modern world. She goes on to weigh up the pros and cons of governance as an analytical term, and concludes with a discussion of the World Bankrsquo;s role as an international organization which aims to promote lsquo;good governancersquo; in poor countries across the globe. This is the first textbook to offer a systematic assessment of current debates around the concept of governance. It will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of politics, international relations and public policy.
Book Description
Since the UN 's creation in 1945 a vast nexus of global and regional institutions has evolved, surrounded by a proliferation of non-governmental agencies and advocacy networks seeking to influence the agenda and direction of international public policy. Although world government remains a fanciful idea, there does exist an evolving global governance complex - embracing states, international institutions, transnational networks and agencies (both public and private) - which functions, with variable effect, to promote, regulate or intervene in the common affairs of humanity.This book provides an accessible introduction to the current debate about the changing form and political significance of global governance. It brings together original contributions from many of the best-known theorists and analysts of global politics to explore the relevance of the concept of global governance to understanding how global activity is currently regulated. Furthermore, it combines an elucidation of substantive theories with a systematic analysis of the politics and limits of governance in key issue areas - from humanitarian intervention to the regulation of global finance. Thus, the volume provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical assessment of the shift from national government to multilayered global governance.Governing Globalization is the third book in the internationally acclaimed series on global transformations. The other two volumes are Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture and The Global Transformations Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate.
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The Global Tourism System: Governance, Development And Lessons from South Africa (New Directions in Tourism Analysis)
Scarlett Cornelissen
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 075464250X |
Customer Reviews:
IO.......2006-01-31
I had to get this book for a class, and it's a really interesting book. It highlights the many differences between international organizations and their various duties.
not for beginners.......2004-09-02
This book is a compilation of scholarly articles, grouped into seven sections, that cover theoretical and practical aspects of international organizations. The overall question these articles try to answer is whether IOs work or not, how well they work in different areas, and how well they have adjusted to changes in the international system since the end of the Cold War.
Although some of the articles are certainly interesting and well researched, I feel that overall they assume too much prior knowledge about international relations and even statistics to be of much use for either undergraduates or people who are not well-read in the field of political science. My students found the texts hard to understand and "much too dry". In addition, many of the articles are somewhat dated and a bit repetitive. In all fairness, I have to say that an audience of graduate students or scholars are much more likely to benefit from reading this volume.
On a positive note, the book addresses a wide range of issues, such as decision-making, peace and security, economics, social and humanitarian affairs. It also stands out because it addresses many practical concerns about IOs, in addition to theoretical approaches. In doing so, it covers a number of important IGOs and NGOs in great detail (e.g. UN, NATO, WTO, IMF, Amnesty International, etc.).
Overall, the book provides a fairly balanced view of the abilities of IOs today, although it does not provide an actual conclusion regarding the potential of IOs for global governance.
Book Description
Corporate governance is the hot topic of the new millennium. There has been a growing demand from executives, students, consultants, and researchers for books that systematically illuminate how multinational corporations (MNCs) should deal with global shareholders and other stakeholders. As firms globalise, their corporate governance issues and systems become much more complex. Corporate governance in MNCs is not just a larger version of corporate governance in regular companies; it is instead influenced by MNCsrsquo; unique strategies, structures, and environments. This volume in the Blackwell Global Dimensions series helps to translate these relationships and illuminate the related intricacies.
Average customer rating:
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Science and International Environmental Policy: Regimes and Nonregimes in Global Governance
Radoslav S. Dimitrov
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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ASIN: 0742539059 |
Book Description
The proliferation of environmental agreements is a defining feature of modern international relations that has attracted considerable academic attention. Typically focusing on happy-end stories of policy creation, the cooperation literature often ignores issue areas where policy agreements are absent. Science and International Environmental Policy introduces nonregimes into the study of global governance, and compares successes with failures in the formation of environmental treaties. By exploring collective decisions not to cooperate, it explains why international institutions form but also why, when, and how they do not emerge. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Book Description
'Globalization' is one of the key concepts of our time. It is used by both the right and the left as the cornerstone of their analysis of the international economy and polity. In both political and academic discussions, the assumption is commonly made that the process of economic globalization is well under way and that this represents a qualitatively new stage in the development of international capitalism. But is there in fact such a thing as a genuinely global economy? Globalization in Question investigates this notion, providing a very different account of the international economy and stressing the possibilities for its continued and extended governance.The new edition of this best-selling text has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded to take into account new issues which have become salient in the period since the first edition was published, including the impact of the internationalization of economic relations on the welfare state; the various debates about the concept of "competitiveness"; the Asian crisis; and the relationships between the North and the South in terms of their effects on wage rates and living standards.Globalization in Question, Second Edition, is a timely intervention into current discussions about the nature and prospects of globalization. The book has far-reaching implications which will be of interest to students and academics in a number of disciplines including politics, sociology, economics and geography, as well as to journalists and policy-makers.
Customer Reviews:
Globalization in Question (1996 version).......2003-10-23
This is a book about globalization that has a simple and well-defended thesis: that the debate about the extent of globalization in the world economy is polarized between those who say it is already globalized and those who say globalization is nonexistent or irrelevant. They argue that the truth (as usual) lies somewhere in between.
-- there is a vast difference between a strictly global economy and a highly internationalized economy in which most companies trade from their bases in distinct national economies. In the former national policies are futile, since economic outcomes are determined wholly by world market forces and by the internal decisions of transnational companies. In the latter national policies remain viable, indeed they are essential in order to preserve the distinct styles and strengths of the national economic base and the companies that trade from it (p. 185).
Because the academic debate is between polarized positions, it has been less than helpful as a guide to political actors. The myth of extreme globalization, in the author's view, "exaggerates the degree of our helplessness in the face of contemporary economic forces," (p. 6) while the denial of globalization makes it difficult to address the very real problems of governance posed by an "internationalized" world economy.
Governance is defined here (somewhat vaguely) as the "control of an activity by some means such that a range desired outcomes is attained..." (p. 184). It is meant to represent activities carried out not just by governments of nation-states but also by supranational organizations like the European Union, transnational actors like the multinational corporations, and subnational actors like the regional and provincial governments of federal national systems. While internationalization of the world economy creates incentives and opportunities for international governance that bypasses or transcends national governments, national governments will still have a role, say the authors, in assuring that the new governance structures are coherent and (if coherent) democratic.
The book contains some interesting arguments about the changing nature of governance in Europe, especially since the formation of the European Union. In Chapter 7, the authors assert that responsibility for governance in Europe has shifted to some extent toward the Union level, but also to some extent toward the local and regional (provincial) level, in order to compensate for the inability of national governments to address certain problems. According to the authors, "Regions are small enough to possess 'intimate knowledge' and yet sufficiently large to aid and regulate local economies through a significant revenue base." [p. 167] However, the authors also assert that the national level will remain significant because the "Union could not conceivably create central institutions fast enough and with enough legitimacy to achieve an effective federal-regional division of labor, marginalizing national government sin most economic regulatory functions." [p. 168] As a result, "Europe will be divided into successful and failing regions.." [p. 168]. While this is not a very cheerful prediction, it is a well-argued one.
In general, I found the authors' arguments about the continued relevance of national governments persuasive. I also liked their point about the increased importance of subnational and supranational regions. However, I found the discussion of the activities of multinational corporations (MNCs) in Chapter 4 to be rather dull and long-winded, despite the fact that the authors were presenting their own analysis of newly collected data. The main assertion made in that chapter was that MNCs are not very global yet, since most of their production (and other important activities) is still national, and most of their international activity is with neighboring countries. This is not a particularly novel point, and it could have been made in a crisper and more interesting manner.
Chapter 2 does a good job of placing the debate about economic globalization in historical perspective by looking at data on internationalization prior to World War I. The main point of this chapter is to show that the current upturn in internationalization is not unprecedented.
Chapter 3 provides a useful overview of data on the growth of foreign direct investment since the end of World War II. It is a little deficient in its discussion of the rapid increase in Japanese FDI since the 1980s, but it does a good job of describing the general phenomenon. Toward the end of the chapter however, the authors attempt to speculate about whether the growth in investment activity by multinational corporations can help to reduce global economic inequalities, but only rather cursorily and inconclusively, thus weakening the impact of the earlier empirical arguments.
Chapter 5 of the book is devoted to the question of whether the developing countries of the Third World have benefited from internationalization. In this chapter, the authors argue that most of the people of the Third World have not benefited from internationalization but that they must do so in the future, even if this means greater market intervention on the part of the world's governments. Hirst and Thomson are pessimistic about the ability of Third World countries to copy the policies of rapidly growing Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. They agree with Paul Krugman that the rapid growth of the Asian newly industrializing countries (NICs) will not last because of the exhaustion of the benefits from converting from agricultural to industrial pursuits. Finally, they point out that NICs depended on relatively open markets for their exports in North America and Europe, and that the growing protectionism in the industrialized countries reduces the likelihood of future success in export-led growth strategies. The main changes the authors advocate to produce "a fairer world" are more foreign aid, "ethical private capital investment," and policies to improve the terms of trade for developing countries [p. 120]. I found this chapter to be overly pessimistic about the future prospects of developing countries and weak on prescriptions for change.
I was disappointed by the authors' avoidance of any serious attempt to define rigorously the key concepts of globalization and governance, but, on the whole, I found this book to be well written and well argued. I would recommend it as supplementary reading for upper division undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Its primary strength is that it contains a reasoned and reasonable thesis about the limits of contemporary economic globalization.
Antidote for the globalist myth.......1998-09-26
The authors make this "Globalization In Question" a great antidote for people (especially in the Business and Administration area) that can't stop repeating that "the world is globalized, the world is globalized" like parrots. It's very pleasing to have some kind of skepticism about this whole discussion. In countries of the Third World, this talk about globalization is particularly dangerous since glued to it comes the neoliberal talk. And don't be scared by all the "economics". After reading this one, I can garantee that you will pay more attention to the books you're buying about the "global world".
Book Description
"Global Trends and Global Governance" is a concise and practical guide that explains the key political, economic, ecological and social factors that shape the process of globalization. Written in a clear and accessible style, it is an indispensable handbook for activists, civil servants, policy researchers, and anyone interested in getting involved in political action.
Packed with useful data, the book includes analysis of the US economy and US foreign policy as part of a wider critique of UN-unilaterlism, revealing the need to establish more cooperative and inclusive forms of global politics. Public action, such as the organized protests in Seattle and Prague, and the demonstrations at the environment summit in the Hague, are now having an impact on the way that the world is governed. Addressing this changing situation, and the implications that it holds for human security, the contributors analyze ways in which we can evolve new ways of working together to cope with problems of a transnational nature.
Customer Reviews:
Japan and India.......2006-07-13
Japan is dealing with its labor shortage and the high cost of labor by going multinational. Companies found it cheaper to employ female labor in Thailand or Mexico to assemble electrical goods than to produce them in Japan. The location of assembly and manufacturing plants abroad assures access to key markets: Mexican factories give Japan free access to the American and Canadian markets, while automobile factories in England and Wales provide a European base for the EC market. Profits go to Toyota and Mitsubitishi. Japan's focus is making money. Japan's banking practices will clean up. Japan will continue to fund Asia development. Japan will prevent nuclear escalation by stabilizing North Korea financial aid. Japan has received 4 Nobel prizes for science in comparison to 140 wins by the US. "City in the sky" development will transform real estate upward.
Japan imports most of its food. Food production in Japan is inefficient. There are many reasons for the inefficiency, such as, lack of incentives caused by subsidized wages for the farmers, lack of planning, and production/financial weakness as a result of nationalization philosophy which does not face the raw pressures of capitalism that reward or punish based on performance. Japan will reform political isolation statutes and open US agriculture imports. Japan will increase its domestic food production by creating year round food production by Greenhouse, new bio-agricultural seed strains, and privatizing food production. Japan will continue to invest in Agricultural resource in the US, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada.
India per capita GNP is $311 verses $5,000 for China. This means India's total GNP is less than half of Italy's and China's and 1/6 to 1/7 of Japan's. What are the chances that India and China can escape present low levels of average income and continue to enjoy high rates of economic growth? If growth can be sustained at 5 percent over the next few decades than progress will be assured.
India has a rapidly growing elder population. Average life expectancy is about 58 years for both male and female, a result of improved health care, diet, sanitation, and general standards of living. The Indian government has considerably less power to reach into the villages and cajole peasant families to limit their size. The desire to bear children and enhance family income remains strong. Fertility rates in India are 4.3. India population increases have been 16.8 million each year in the 1985-90 period.
Agriculture accounts for 60 percent of India employment. Rice and wheat are the main agricultural outputs. The miracle rice variety gained much greater yields in irrigated semiarid areas of the northwest. "Overall, India food supplies have risen sharply over the past decades, and it normally has sufficient stocks in hand to meet drought and famine conditions." The signs are the green revolutions have been spent. The successes of Indian agriculture have not been uniform: no incentives to adopt new seeds in intensive labor rice cultivation. In the drier states much depends on the availability of water supplies, affected by government irrigation schemes. Both central and state governments are less concerned with countering mass inequalities would raise thorny issues of property rights, caste, and privilege. Agricultural development and national income rise and the uneven agricultural gains are probably insufficient to match population increase.
While struggling to increase food output, Indian governments must "move their economies into manufacturers and services", to obtain higher per capita income and absorb the tens of millions of new entrants into the work force. Iron and Steel, cement, locomotive, automobiles, shipbuilding, defense-related production, engineering, and machine tools were all supported by the state. Transport, mining, and utilities were taken into the public sector. As a result there are a number of large publicly owned corporations controlling steel, aeronautics, engineering, and petrochemicals.
India has a 43 percent adult illiteracy rate. This is a challenge in rural India, where the tradition of education is not as strong. Over 5 million Indian students are in higher education. The drive to catch up with Japan will drive development of manufacturing, science, design, and technology. Japan has ¼ the number of scientific and technical personnel engaged in research and development, a 30 to 1 disparity. How can India catch up with Japan? India devotes 3 to 4 percent of its GNP to education verses 6 by the US.
India will build real estate infrastructure rapidly transforming their society into an industrial base. Nuclear energy programs in India will provide an increased availability of energy for manufacturing. Historically, power plants have been built in poorly accessible locations and the energy usage under utilized. Government plan was blamed for the design. India government stability will remain a concern. The government is controls most of the countries resources, transportation, health care and management effectiveness of these resources will fluctuate. Large public works projects will tax the middle class as the infrastructure is established. As India accelerates its growth rate to 8.5 GDP, the basic family unit will be threatened: 1. smaller families meaning less children 2. less marriages 3. and more separation between rich and the poor.
India could start building robots. India, already has a machine-tool industry, which is a natural foundation for a serious move into robotics. It has a foundation of science and engineering talent.
Environment damage caused by population growth and modernization is immense. Around New Delphi, a stagger 60 percent of its forests are lost. "Of the countries 304 million hectacres 50 percent are subject to ecological degradation. About 80 percent of the population lives under substandard conditions" and "massive poverty was forcing the poor to degrade the environment on which they depended for sheer survival". India will need to increase their prioritization valuation of education. A balance between agricultural, manufacturing, and education will need to be thought about.
Books:
- Global Shift, Fifth Edition: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy (Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours)
- Global Strategy (with World Map and InfoTrac )
- Handbook of Semidefinite Programming - Theory, Algorithms, and Applications (INTERNATIONAL SERIES IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND) (International Series in Operations Research & Management Science)
- Harold Wilson and European Integration: Britain's Second Application to Join the EEC (Cass Series--British Foreign and Colonial Policy Series)
- Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (American Empire Project)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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