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Role of Governance in Microfinance Sustainability: Evidence from Bangladesh
by Md Nazim UddinThis book identifies the effect of governance structure components on outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bangladesh. It is designed to study and understand these structures with reference to the changing forms and functions of MFI administration, in theory and practice, with experiences from selected countries. It helps readers understand corporate governance across the globe with recent developments in this sector. It provides evidence from Bangladesh on what aspects need to be strengthened and identifies the importance of considering differences in institutional values, culture, and environment while pointing to the risk of applying normative assertions of governance structure. The book suggests that a regulatory and supervisory framework should be introduced in Bangladesh to enhance the governance structure of MFIs. It advocates that the sector requires a robust regulatory environment to improve its governance and administrative frameworks and expand the microfinance sector's outreach and sustainability opportunities. It will benefit researchers and students of economics, corporate governance, accountability, transparency, finance, business administration, microfinance institutions, and applied fields, as well as microfinance practitioners, administrators, and policymakers.
Individual Resilience to Urban Flooding and the Implications for Urban Management
by Jing SongThis book argues that the substantial life and property loss caused by urban flooding might not be a pure result of a vulnerable physical environment-social factors, especially the individual attributes and capacities, could have pivotal roles to play in the resilience discourse as well. In light of this, this research investigates the relationship between individual resilience to urban flooding and urban management, endeavoring to identify place-responsive measures for building resilience for residents vulnerable to urban flooding.
Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia: Steps toward a Shared Framework
by Luke K. Fryer Ronnel B. King Lily M. ZengStudent engagement at the programme and university levels are both critical to students' success in higher education. This book establishes a theoretical and empirical framework for assessing these student experiences together. To this end, the book brings together the two major fields of university quality assurance (US [university engagement] and UK [programme experiences]). This edited book then shows how this integrated approach applies to university experiences across Pacific Asia (Hong Kong, Mainland China, Philippines, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan). It demonstrates how the proposed quality assurance framework can be applied as an intra-institutional tool to enhance student experiences. For readers interested in future of Asia Pacific higher education, this book presents a path towards enhanced cross-national communication between Asia Pacific universities.
Resolving Intergenerational Conflicts: An Approach from Philosophy, Economics, and Experiments (Advances in Japanese Business and Economics #33)
by Toshiaki HiromitsuThis book is an unprecedented consideration of the challenges of what we can do for generations yet to come. Many growing intergenerational conflicts of interest, such as climate change and fiscal sustainability, are the result of the historically new progress of increasing human power, and the resolution of those conflicts demands a new intergenerational ethic. The book offers fresh new ideas for resolving intergenerational conflicts through the exploration of an entirely new field, conceptualized in philosophy, developed in economics, and tested in experiments. In particular, this work develops the theory of intergenerational cooperation based on a new relationship of direct reciprocity between generations. From experimental results, the possibility of intergenerational cooperation through Kantian categorical imperative is shown. The book also examines the effectiveness of inviting representatives of future generations, which are called "imaginary future generations", into the deliberations for current policy decisions. The original Japanese edition of this book was awarded the 66th Nikkei Prize for Excellent Books in Economic Science. The prize was established in 1958 to contribute to the advancement of academics and knowledge in the fields of economics, management, and accounting, as well as to its general dissemination and application.
Asia-Afria- Multifaceted Engagement in the Contemporary World (Africa's Global Engagement: Perspectives from Emerging Countries)
by Ute Fendler Yongkyu ChangThis book provides an insight into the complex entanglements between African countries and India, China, and South Korea from multidisciplinary perspectives connecting approaches from cultural, anthropological, literary, and music studies and art history. The three parts present a regional focus, namely Africa-India, Africa-South Korea, and Africa-China while the single contributions speak to each other and offer complementary insights. At the same time, the chapters also link across the regional realms as they deal with similar topics, such as travelling music genres. In part I, for Pombo material culture is the starting point to investigate the connections between the islands of the Indian Ocean and India by questioning the construction of memory. It highlights various aspects of the multilayered history of connections between Africa, the islands, and India. Part II gathers contributions that are complimentary to each other and therefore contribute to the understanding of the complex entanglements in area studies. Part III (Africa-South Korea) explores the impact of African-American arts and artists on South Korea's popular culture as well as the changing perception of artists of African descent in visual popular culture. It shows the impact of Korean content in South Africa.
Ascending to Space: Critical Perspectives from New Zealand and other Nations (Space Law and Policy)
by Maria A. PozzaThis book explores multidisciplinary perspectives on critical issues in space from the viewpoints of New Zealand and other nations. It brings together the topics examined at the Otago Foreign Policy School 2022 by both domestic and international experts in the area of space, and includes the opening address on space policy delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to New Zealand’s growing space sector in conjunction with other nations’ perspectives on space. It encompasses space science, military and defence matters, space tourism and astronaut rescue, and international legal and policy frameworks, while taking into account future considerations. Readers such as academics, students, policy advisers, diplomats, government officials and others engaged in the field of space will find value in this book. It will appeal to think tanks and international institutions grappling with the complexities that are presented by the outer space domain.
Leaders of the Nation: A Political History of Kazakhstan (The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia)
by Ainash MustoyapovaThe book tells about people who lived in an era of historical cataclysms, wars and revolutions, changes in political formations. The generation of the Kazakh intelligentsia responded to the historical challenge facing the Kazakhs at a turning point in history. These are people born at the end of the 19th century, educated in different countries and united by the idea of overcoming colonial dependence on the Russian Empire.The author aims to form a holistic view of a galaxy of outstanding personalities who, in an important historical period, were able to take responsibility for the people and their future. The history of the country is perceived through the prism of their destinies, views, activities and death.The material of the book is a biographical sketch and covers the history of Kazakhstan in the first third of the twentieth century, until the period of the Great Terror (1937–1938).
Building an Olive-Shaped Society: Economic Growth, Income Distribution and Public Policies in China
by CICC Research, CICC Global InstituteThis open access book offers a comprehensive analysis of China’s way of economic development balancing between efficiency and equity, striving to investigate existing challenges and to discuss the role of fiscal policies and philanthropy to mitigate social inequality. The book analyzes the current overall state and challenges of China's income and wealth distribution and describes the social inequality in specific fields such as labor market, housing markets, education, public health, infrastructure building and carbon emission. This book also explores the implications of long-run trends of macro-asset pricing. The book is both academically rigorous and readable. This valuable reference will attract readers in economics, public finance and social policy who seek to better understand China’s path of combating social inequality.
China in 2035: Towards a Society of Common Prosperity for All
by Angang Hu Shaojie ZhouThis open access book is a new study by the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at Tsinghua University, condensing the new achievements of the Institute’s national policy research. Taking "common prosperity" as the theme, the book elaborates the historical background, ideological sources and theoretical connotation of common prosperity. It reviews the theoretical and practical innovations of common prosperity in three historical periods: the socialist revolution and construction period, the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, and the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It discusses the development goals and practical approaches for China to build a society of common prosperity by 2035, analyzes the development basis and challenges China faces in promoting common prosperity, and puts forward the overall goals and quantitative indicator system for achieving common prosperity in the new era, as well as major tasks, policy logic and pathway for promoting common prosperity. The book also looks into the great significance and world significance of China's realization of common prosperity. Policy interpretation in the book is thorough, and the data is accurate, with authoritative, professional and forward-looking perspectives. This is an open access book.
Japan and Global Health: Human Security Agenda in the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Daisuke AkimotoThis book examines the development of Japan’s human security diplomacy for global health in the pre- and post-COVID-19 world. In the light of global health politics and human security studies, it attempts to clarify Japan’s financial and diplomatic contributions to the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), official development assistance (ODA) related to global health, the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in preparation for future pandemics, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enhance the global health system. Moreover, the Japanese Business Leaders’ Coalition for Global Health in collaboration with the Bill & Melida Gates Foundation in the field of innovative technology, such as an application of artificial intelligence (AI) for global health will be scrutinized. In addition, this research investigates implications of Japan’s Global Health Strategy for Japan’s global health diplomacy at the event of the G7/G8 summits, especially the 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit. Finally, this book identifies multiple global health actors that constitute the emerging and changing global health architecture in the post-COVID-19 world.
The Reality and Myth of BRI’s Debt Trap: Evidences from Asia and Africa (Indo-Pacific Focus)
by Nian Peng Ming Yu ChengThis edited book aims to present a well-balanced view on the heated debate about BRI’s “debt trap” controversy within the route states by presenting compelling evidence from Asian and African countries. It is contributed by the university scholars, think tank experts, and governmental officials from the concerned parties such as China, USA, South/Southeast Asia, and Africa to discuss this new topic from their perspectives. It not only examines the origins and changes in external debt among the BRI route states before and after the launch of the BRI, but also analyzes the outcomes stemming from BRI projects. The book covers 12 chapters, in which the first chapter briefly introduces the aims and scope of this book. The following 2 chapters look at Chinese and Indian perspectives on the “debt trap”, respectively. The next 9 chapters examine the debt issue and BRI projects in Southeast Asian, South Asian, and African states, which mainly involve Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Nigeria, and give some useful policy suggestions to reduce the debt burden and promote the socioeconomic development in these countries.
Power, Privilege and Place in Australian Society
by Patrick O'KeeffeThis book critically analyses important social issues experienced in Australia, such as economic inequality, precarious work, unequal access to quality education and health care, housing insecurity, colonisation, racism and discrimination, activism and social change. In doing so, it contributes to urgent discussions in key areas of Australian society. At a moment in time where a more progressive, caring, inclusive and optimistic public discourse is required, this book takes up the challenge of thinking constructively and creatively about the possibilities for change. While the book focuses on Australian-specific experiences, connections to international examples are made to ensure this work has relevance to people beyond an Australian context.
National Power and International Geostructure (Contributions to International Relations)
by Daniel Morales Ruvalcaba Alberto Rocha ValenciaThis book addresses three innovative aspects for the study of International Relations: first, proposes a novel theoretical-methodological framework for the study of national power, and based on this, a quantitative analysis technique is formulated that allows us to study the evolution of state power over almost five decades. Second, states play a fundamental role in the international system, which is why the study of their roles in the world cannot be limited to old, insufficient, and contradictory categorizations. Having new categories of states becomes an even more urgent task in the rapidly changing international order than it is today. This book proposes nine categories of powers and states that cover all the countries that currently exist. Third, the international geostructure of world power is proposed, which represents a new theoretical notion that helps to explain how the international insertion of states and their possibilities of action are conditioned by the unequal distribution of national power and by their structural positioning in the international system. This book is for all students of International Relations, academics, and people who want to understand national power as a fundamental factor in relations between countries.
Mental Health Care Resource Book: Concepts and Praxis for Social Workers and Mental Health Professionals
by Meenu AnandThis book takes a strengths-based approach to focus on different aspects of mental health. It summarizes the complex intertwining of illness and culture in the context of rising cases of mental disorders in the post-pandemic world. The book contains three sections, each incorporating essential skills and praxis. The book's first section examines the fundamental and conceptual underpinnings of mental health, well-being, and wellness from an eclectic lens to present an overview of mental health from the biopsychosocial perspective. The second section demonstrates using and transforming theoretical principles and perspectives into practice-based skills through detailed narrations and illustrations. It also showcases how to apply these skills in real-world settings. The third and final section combines field-based narratives that reflect multifaceted challenges and efforts toward treating mental disorders and promoting positive mental health, including success stories in diverse settings.This section highlights the importance of praxis in mental health. The book is a valuable resource for scholars and professionals in various fields, such as social work, psychology, sociology, social psychiatry, gender studies, and anyone interested in learning more about mental health and well-being.
General Ne Win’s Legacy of Burmanization in Myanmar: The Challenge to Peace in the Twenty-First Century
by Saw Eh Htoo Tony WatersThis book focuses on how Burmanization created and reinforced ethnic divides since the 1962 coup d’etat. when General Ne Win concentrated all authority in the Burmese speaking army. Background research for the book includes Burmese language materials from the Burmese Socialist Party (BSP) and others that describe with what the BSP believed in their own terms. This is unique from previous works on the topic which either simply pointed out that the policies “didn’t work” and therefore are uninteresting, or to claim that they were “necessary” given the chaos of the previous regime. The authors agree that Ne Win’s policies “didn’t work.” However, the book goes further by elaborating why Burmanization policies developed in the 1960s are important for understanding Burmese society today. Most importantly, Ne Win’s ideology reflects how patterns of interethnic relationships in Myanmar lead to the “intractability” of the battles in early twenty-first century Myanmar.
Green Finance in China: Policies, Experiences and Challenges (Contributions to Finance and Accounting)
by Wenting Zhang Dawei ZhaoThis book aims to provide first-hand information for readers concerned with green finance and sustainable development by summarizing the unique features, policies and practical innovations of green finance development in China and hoping to provide China's experience in the development of green finance for more regions. The global economy is currently facing historic opportunities that brings by a new round of technology, energy and industrial revolution. The new growth path of "green and low-carbon" development has become the main direction of the transformation of global economic development. What's China's green finance strategy? How does China deliver on the goal? This book builds an overview of China's green finance and sheds light on sustainable development topics from finance perspective.
Islamic Social Finance: Law and Practice in Malaysia
by Sherin Kunhibava Aishath Muneeza Maryam Binti Khalid Zakariya Mustapha Thong Ming SenThis book addresses the growing significance of Islamic social finance as an alternative and sustainable financing approach in the world. With a focus on Malaysia, a global leader in Islamic banking and finance, the topics covered fills the gap in the extant research by providing in-depth coverage of the legal framework surrounding Islamic social finance. Written with students, researchers, and policymakers in mind, it explores the unique features and principles of Islamic social finance, which aims to achieve social objectives alongside financial returns. By examining real-life case studies and digital examples, readers will gain valuable insights into the practical application of Islamic social finance principles. Each chapter concludes with self-review questions, allowing students to assess their understanding and consolidate their knowledge. This book serves as a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and practitioners seeking to explore and implement Islamic social finance principles. With its comprehensive coverage and practical insights, it will will play a crucial role in promoting the understanding and adoption of Islamic social finance for sustainable development.
Understanding the Rohingya Displacement: Security, Media, and Humanitarian Perspectives (International Perspectives on Migration)
by Kawser Ahmed Md. Rafiqul IslamThis book provides a focused and comprehensive understanding of the conflict surrounding the Rohingya displacement, using a unique peace and conflict transformation viewpoint. Divided into four sections and nineteen chapters, it covers significant themes related to the conflict. It provides an in-depth examination of its security implications, media impact, and the need for a long-term transformation strategy. The authors offer a sharp perspective on the crisis, covering a wide range of topics, including human rights abuses, geopolitics, media influence, and repatriation of the Rohingya. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the conflict, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the Rohingya displacement-related conflict. The authors advocate for a peaceful end to the conflict through repatriation, offering valuable conflict transformation tools for decision-makers in Bangladesh and around the world. This book is essential for anyone seeking a deeper understandingof the conflict's security implications and highlights original research from academics on the role of the media. It is relevant for scholars, politicians, decision-makers in the security and refugee management fields, academics studying the media, and humanitarian actors.
Human Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The South Asian Experience
by M. Ehteshamul Bari Uday ShankarThis book sheds light on the fact that the proclamation of an emergency can be a legitimate constitutional method to take prompt preventative measures in protecting the interests of the society in times of grave crises. However, the exercise of emergency powers should not undermine a nation’s commitment to democratic values, such as maintaining the rule of law and upholding fundamental human rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed grave threats to the lives and health of individuals. However, since the constitutions of South Asian nations do not permit the proclamation of an emergency on health grounds, executives of these nations were constrained to rely, among other things, on ordinary legislation to tide over the threats posed by the pandemic. Although these statutes entrust the executive with extensive emergency powers, they do not simultaneously stipulate any safeguards subjecting the exercise of such powers to a reliable system of checks and balances. Accordingly, this book critically examines the exercise of emergency powers in the South Asian nations to tide over threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a profoundly adverse impact on the human rights of individuals. Such exercise of powers was consistent with the general tendency demonstrated by succeeding generations of the executives in these nations to use emergency situations as the convenient means for imposing long-lasting limitations on the rights of individuals. Consequently, this book identifies the flaws, deficiencies, and lacunae of the legal framework in these nations, which permit the executive to assume unfettered power in the exercise of emergency measures at the expense of the liberty of individuals. Consequently, based on these findings, recommendations will be put forward for initiating reforms in these nations aimed at ensuring the maintenance of a delicate balance between the necessity to respond tograve threats and to simultaneously prevent undue intrusion on the fundamental human rights of individuals.
A Contemporary Turkish Prison Diary: Reflections on the Writings of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
by Ismail AlbayrakThis book explores the religious experiences of two notable figures who endured severe trials under authoritarian regimes: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) within the Islamic tradition, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) within the Russian Orthodox Christian tradition. Against the tumultuous backdrop of the twentieth century’s spiritual, social, political, and intellectual upheavals, both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn grappled with immense hardships because of their beliefs. Despite immense tribulations, both individuals demonstrated unwavering faith and resilience in the face of adversity, continuing their scholarly and literary activities. The current study centers on the dichotomy of spiritual confinement and expansiveness, illustrating how people can experience spiritual distress even without physical restraints. It explores the historical and conceptual aspects of imprisonment within Christian and Muslim perspectives, explores the reasons for Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's incarceration, examines their coping mechanisms in the face of hardship, and underscores the role of faith and spirituality. The author integrates personal experiences, particularly his own incarceration during the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish staged coup attempt, within the context of the narratives of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn. The book addresses court proceedings, release, departure from Turkey, and resettlement in Australia. Throughout, the author draws parallels between their own observations and those of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn, contributing to the broader discourse on individual spirituality and collective consciousness. The book offers insights into spiritual resilience in the face of adversity, utilizing the lives of these figures to illuminate shared human experiences. A unique collation of personal narration and scholarly reflection, it is relevant to academics and students in history, political science, sociology, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, and to social scientists researchingthe phenomenon of exile and prison in different countries across the world. It also speaks to the work of activists and policymakers in human rights.
Gifts to the Sad Country: Essays on the Chinese Diaspora
by Souchou YaoThis book is a study of an ethnic-Chinese family in Malaysia as it struggled with the upheavals in China during the Land Reform (1945-1953) and the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962). Based on fieldwork in Malaysia and in a village in Dabu County, Southern China, it tells a story of a family whose existence straddled two nations, two political systems. Emigration is shown to be both a positive experience and a source of despair. The study redefines the conventional narrative about the Chinese diaspora as economically driven and politically expedient; mobility, personal freedom and transnational journeying were a part of their cultural history. The book highlights the fact that Chinese homeland, even under communist rule, offered the people a means of identification under difficult circumstances. During the time of radical reform, the diaspora adapted themselves to the conditions in the homeland, and for some China remained a place of longing and emotional attachment.
Embracing Diversity: Preparing Future Teachers to Foster Religious Tolerance (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Anne Suryani A. Bukhori MuslimThis book presents a detailed discussion of Indonesian future teachers’ experience of religious diversity, tolerance and intolerance, their level of intellectual humility, and intentions to foster religious tolerance. Drawing from large-scale mixed methods research conducted in Indonesian universities involving over one thousand three hundred future teachers from diverse religious backgrounds, this book demonstrates that religion and religious beliefs can, and do, shape the way future teachers view their teaching practices and pedagogies. The book sheds light into the under-researched yet prominent issue of integrating tolerance into teacher education preparation. It is set in the largest Muslim-majority country in the world which, in recent years, has seen a gradual degradation of secularity while religion becomes more dominant across all levels and sectors of society. This novel and timely book is of interest to researchers, scholars, and students in religious studies, education, social sciences, and Asian studies, as well as anyone interested in the interplay between religion and education in the 21st century.
Contender States and Modern Chinese International Thought: From the Republican era until the ‘Chinese School of International Relations’
by Ferran Perez MenaThis book contends that the development of modern Chinese international thought has been profoundly shaped by the distinctive nature of the Chinese state as a contender state and its global positioning since 1912. The argument posited demonstrates that, notwithstanding the varied perspectives on the 'international' held by Chinese intellectuals throughout the 20th century, there exist commonalities across the periods analyzed in this book. In essence, the book emphasizes that the shared elements influencing the production of modern Chinese international thought do not derive from a unified cultural Chinese identity but rather stem from China's evolving geopolitical position in the modern world.
The Hidden Child Brides of the Syrian Civil War: Vulnerable and Voiceless in Human Rights Law and Practice (SpringerBriefs in Law)
by Simona StrungaruThis book provides a comprehensive account of one significantly underreported aspect of violence affecting young refugee girls today, that of forced child marriage. It examines the ongoing, insidious practice via the lens of international human rights laws and contextualising human rights laws and discourses in relation to Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Jordanian understandings of international law and human rights, where the practice in directly impacting young Syrian refugee girls who are seeking refuge in Jordan with their displaced families. The book finds that in a juxtaposition of human rights definitions and obligations, between the traditional and modern, the religious and the secular, there are mixed implications for the realisation of universal human rights and that this has consequences for the most vulnerable—child refugees. As a result, Syrian children exist in a precarious situation. They are living in a foreign state with an unclear legal status, are largely unidentified, and, in effect, stateless. It is in this liminal space that Syrian children are vulnerable and voiceless and highly exposed to forced marriages and the resultant violence and possibly death. While allowed to continue, the practice of child marriage not only severely impedes upon progressive international human rights efforts to eliminate gender-based violence, slavery, and discrimination, but significantly impacts on children’s physical, mental and emotional health, and their opportunities for growth and development in society. As a case study this book seeks to inform how vulnerable Syrian children have come to be increasingly confronted by child marriage and to consider why it occurred and continues to occur, even though the idea of children being forcibly marriage is considered ethically and legally objectionable within international human rights law.
Sports Mega-Events in Asia (Palgrave Series of Sport in Asia)
by Koji Kobayashi John Horne Younghan Cho Jung Woo LeeThis book is the first comprehensive collection focusing on the hosting of sports mega-events within Asia and their impact on the politics, economics, and culture that shape, and are shaped by, the local idiosyncrasies of host cities and countries across this most culturally diverse continent. From the Olympic Games and single sport World Cups, to the Asian Games and their sub-regional variations, an increasing number of Asian countries have rapidly developed their capacity to host and mobilize large-scale sports events as a cornerstone of their economic growth, national identity formation, and international prestige. This book sets out to fill a gap in the literature and will be of particular relevance to those who are interested in globalization, sports studies, political economy, cultural studies, event management and policy, sociology, media studies, and Asian studies