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Gaming as a Cultural Commons: Risks, Challenges, and Opportunities (Translational Systems Sciences #28)
by Toshiko Kikkawa Willy Christian Kriz Junkichi SugiuraThis book focuses on relatively neglected areas of simulation and gaming (S&G), i.e., cultural aspects and ethical issues, in addition to giving readers a basic knowledge of S&G. Although the educational effects of S&G, and related methods such as gamification, as well as serious games have been studied and are gaining recognition, their downsides are often overlooked. For example, there is always a risk of manipulation by games if maliciously designed and facilitated. Ethical codes of game designers, facilitators, and educators must be established on the basis of academic research. Considerations of the ethics of games are essential not only for S&G researchers and educators but also for the general public, because games have sometimes been used for propaganda purposes in the past and could be again, in the present and future. Looking at the cultural aspect, as the S&G community has accumulated research over 50 years, the book includes the knowledge of the pioneers, i.e., archival interview data. This is the first book that includes extensive interviews of researchers and commercial game designers and critics. It also contains diverse topics from the perspective of gender and Japanese culture. Japan has been attracting attention in the field of board games as there are many independent game designers and an expanding market. Although women in S&G have gained some recognition, the topic has been rather ignored and was first officially discussed in 2019 at the international conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association held in Warsaw. In summary, by focusing on comparatively overlooked or neglected aspects of S&G, this book expands future opportunities in the field for researchers and educators, with increased awareness by the general public.
Brazil–China Relations in the 21st Century: The Making of a Strategic Partnership
by Maurício SantoroThis book explores the bilateral relationship between Brazil and China in modern history, environment, economics, and contemporary Brazilian politics. As China has become Brazil's largest trading partner, importing commodities and exporting manufactures, and a major investor in the country, Brazil's social structure has been upended, with traditional hierarchies jolted and new ones created- in the agribusiness, industry, in the diplomacy of climate change in the Amazon and not least, Brazil's traditional relationship with the United States. In this incisive text, one of Brazil's leading political scientists explores how China, the X factor of international relations, can transform a nation's politics; it will be of interest to economists, scholars of geopolitics, of China's Belt and Road Initiative and of Latin America politics.
Singapore's First Year of COVID-19: Public Health, Immigration, the Neoliberal State, and Authoritarian Populism
by Kenneth Paul TanThis book addresses the question of what Singapore's COVID-19 pandemic response in the first year can tell us about the strengths and weaknesses of the Singapore model and what its prospects might be in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous post-pandemic world. As a concise, holistic, and critical documentation of the first year of COVID-19 in Singapore, the multi-disciplinary chapters in this book provide a broad-ranging analysis of an internationally admired model of governance severely tested by a global pandemic crisis whose end is still not in sight.The book focuses specifically on the interconnections among Singapore’s political economy, public health policies, immigration policies, and the elite and pragmatic system of state authoritarianism that, especially since the 1980s, has been at the heart of managing the tensions and contradictions of a nation-state that is also a global city, an important node in a network of goods, services, investments, wealth, people, ideas, and images, all moving rapidly. The chapters critically employ topics and concepts such as neoliberal globalization, authoritarian populism, moral panic, social stigmatization, heterotopia, spatial segregation, and others to make sense of a thoroughly complex situation.
Ethnographic Study of Marine Conservation: Eelgrass Restoration in Hinase, Japan
by Izumi TsuritaThis book explores the nature of marine conservation based on the case study of Hinase, a fishing village in Okayama, Japan. It focuses on the fishers’ self-motivated eelgrass restoration activity which has been continued for more than 30 years. This activity in Hinase recently attracted international attention as a case under the name “Satoumi” and “Marine Protected Areas” in several governmental reports, but detailed information, such as the historical background and social structure of Hinase, has not yet been analyzed. This book, therefore, fulfills this gap by providing its ethnographic information. In addition, this book offers some points for critical thinking by concluding that marine conservation activities cannot always be evaluated or arranged under the standardized approach with limited time and space. This viewpoint reaffirms the importance of local initiative and highlights the value of qualitative research to seek the way forward for promising marine conservation. This book is suitable for an academic audience in the field of social sciences, such as applied anthropology, as well as ecologists, government officials, environmentalists, and citizens who are interested or engaged in environmental issues or natural resource management.
Gender Equity: Proceedings of 2nd International Conference of Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology
by Vasundhara Mahajan Anandita Chowdhury Urvashi Kaushal Namrta Jariwala Sharon A. BongThis book comprises the proceedings of the TEQIP III Sponsored 2nd International Conference on “Gender Equity: Challenges and Opportunities” (2nd ICOGECAO 2020 -Virtual Mode), held at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, from 25 to 27 November 2020. ICOGECAO provided a platform for researchers from multiple countries to present their views about the challenges associated with gender equity. Gender equity is one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5) set up by the United Nations in 2015, to promote and empower all genders equally. The proceedings strongly support the ideas of gender neutrality and blow out the mind-set of limiting gender studies to only women rights. They offer a collection of articles that break the stereotypes and myths often wrongly associated with gender. The ideas in the presented papers highlight gender-based discriminations, ask important questions and share facts that encompass beyond the so-called boundary lines. The authors contributed on various topics including but not limited to violence, crime, discrimination, and abuse against women and LGBTQ+ community. The basic motive of the presented book is to incorporate ideas and contribute to the sensitization and education about the important yet often neglected issues of gender equality. Thus, this book proves to be an essential resource for educators and researchers working in the field of gender studies. The work presents challenges caused due to COVID-19, social media, popular culture and work–life balance and explores empowerment through law, skills, technology and media. Some interesting case studies highlighted gender discrimination in science, sports and law. A variety of papers on literary texts were examined from a gender lens. The proceeding is divided into five subsections: 1. law, 2. literature, 3. management, 4. sociology and 5. social studies. The proceeding provides a wider perceptive and visuals about the scenarios which needs attention. The ideas presented will be helpful for achieving the sustainable development goal of gender equity to a greater extent.
Tax Morale and Tax Resistance: Evidence from an Internet Survey in Japan (SpringerBriefs in Economics)
by Tomomi Miyazaki Masayuki Tamaoka Ayu Tomita Keigo Kameda Akihiro Kawase Katsuyoshi Nakazawa Hiroyuki Ono Naoko YokoyamaThis book is the first to shed light on the recent opinion of taxpayers on tax and fiscal policy in Japan through an attitude questionnaire. It is said that Japanese taxpayers’ tax morale is high. However, taxpayers in Japan are often described as having strong resistance to tax increases, especially consumption tax increases. There is, then, a paradox with respect to the attitude toward tax policies among Japanese citizens. This book provides background information and basic descriptive statistics from Internet surveys in Japan by the authors, who introduce their results by focusing on tax morale and opinions with respect to a consumption tax hike. The summary statistics indicate that while tax morale is high, half of the respondents oppose a consumption tax hike from 8% to 10%. Furthermore, the ideal consumption tax rate for most respondents was less than 10% in both surveys, suggesting that Japanese taxpayers have a strong tax resistance, attributable to distrust of government and politicians.
International Trade, Economic Development, and the Vietnamese Economy: Essays in Honor of Binh Tran-Nam (New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives #61)
by Cuong Le Van Van Pham Hoang Makoto TawadaThis volume spotlights some of the most important economic issues confronting today's emerging developing countries. The topics studied in the book include the importance of productivity to economic growth, international trade and its relationship to productivity; immigration and brain drain; pollution havens, climate change, and the carbon tax; the effectiveness of foreign aid, the efficiency of education, and governance. Written by some of the most respected scholars in their respective fields, the individual chapters apply both economic theory and the most current empirical tools in rigorous but accessible exposition. Researchers can find value in the modeling and empirical techniques that can be applied to other countries and datasets. Policy makers can benefit from the intellectual foundation on which decisions on important issues can be based; and students of international trade, economic development, and environmental economics can gain knowledge of different country settings that give context to their fields of study.
Sustainable Approaches in Textiles and Fashion: Circular Economy and Microplastic Pollution (Sustainable Textiles: Production, Processing, Manufacturing & Chemistry)
by Subramanian Senthilkannan MuthuThis first of this set of books presents the various sustainable approaches in terms of circular economy and micro plastic pollution pertaining to the textiles and fashion supply chain. Sustainability is one of the important aspects in today’s industrial context, which is followed by every industrial sector with no exception to textiles and fashion. Sustainability and strict adherence to the principles of sustainability has become one of the essential needs in industry. There are countless measures in terms of various approaches to make the textiles and fashion sector sustainable. These measures, but not limited to, range from innovating and implementing new fibres and raw materials, introducing innovative manufacturing methods, chemicals, processes to focus on all the possible stages of a textile product’s life cycle from cradle to grave. These approaches include making the textiles and fashion sector circular and also development of new products from sustainable raw materials/processes or combination of both.
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development (Applied Economics and Policy Studies)
by Xiaolong Li Chunhui Yuan John KentThe proceedings consist of papers accepted by the 5th ICEMGD, which are carefully selected and reviewed by professional reviewers from corresponding research fields and the editing committee of the conference. The papers have a diverse range of topics situated at the intersecting field of Economic Management, Public Administration and Green Development. ICEMGD is working to provide a platform for international participants from fields like macro- and microeconomics, international economics, finance, agricultural economics, health economics, business management and marketing strategies, regional development studies, social governance, and sustainable development. This proceedings volume, together with the conference, looks forward to spark inspirations and promote collaborations. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals and policy makers in the field of economic management, public administration, and development studies. Due to COVID-19, ICEMGD was held online on 12-17 August, 2021.
Adversarial Political Interviewing: Worldwide Perspectives During Polarized Times (The Language of Politics)
by Ofer FeldmanThis book presents a collection of studies on political interviews in a variety of broadcast media worldwide. Following the growing scholarly interest in media talk as a dominant form of political communication in contemporary society, a number of eminent international scholars analyze empirical material from the discourse of public figures and interviewer–journalists to address questions related to the characteristics, conduct, and potential effects of political interviews. Chapters span a varied array of cultural contexts: the U.S.A., U.K., Israel, Japan, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Australia, Philippines, Finland, Brazil, Malaysia, Spain, Venezuela, Montenegro, and the European Community, enabling a comparison of the different structures and contents of political interviews in societies from West to East. Authors bring an interest in discourse and conversation analysis, as well as in rhetorical techniques and strategies used by both interviewers and interviewees, from different disciplinary viewpoints including linguistic, political, cultural, sociological, and social–psychological. In doing so, the book develops a framework to assess the extent to which media political interviews and talk shows, and regular news programs, play a central role in transmitting accurate and genuine political information to the general public, and how audiences can make sense of these programs’ output.
Re-centering Cultural Performance and Orange Economy in Post-colonial Africa: Policy, Soft Power, and Sustainability
by Taiwo Afolabi Olusola Ogunnubi Shadrach Teryila UkumaThis book explores the role of national theatres, national cultural centres, cultural policy, festivals, and the film industry as creative and cultural performances hubs for exercising soft power and cultural diplomacy. It shows how can existing cultural and non-cultural infrastructures, sometimes referred to as the Orange Economy, open opportunities for diplomacy and soft power; ways by which cultural performance and creative practice can be re-centered in post-colonial Africa and in post-global pandemic era; and existing structures that cultural performers, diplomats, administrators, cultural entrepreneurs, and managers can leverage to re-enact cultural performance and creative practice on the continent. This volume is positioned within postcolonial discourse to amplify narratives, experiences and realities that are anti-oppressive especially within critical discourse.
Cross-Currents of Social Theorizing of Contemporary Taiwan: Self, Culture and Society
by Ananta Kumar Giri Su-Chen WuThe book presents aspects of cross-currents of theorizing of self, culture and society in the contemporary Taiwan. Social theorizing has been addressed critically, reflectively and creatively by the philosophical, religious, psychological and literary traditions of one of the world’s great civilizations Theorizing is a dynamic movement of self, culture, society and the world as it is related to our actions, reflections, meditations to understand the world more meaningfully and holistically as well as to transform it. But much of social theorizing in the modern world is primarily Euro-American and despite the socalled globalization of knowledge, this condition of one-sided Euro-American valorization of knowledge and neglect of others continues unabated. There is very little attention to theorizing about the human condition emerging from other parts of the world such as Taiwan and its global implication. This book transforms this condition by mapping the field of theorizing in a wider spectrum of philosophy, psychology, religions, social sciences and humanities in contemporary Taiwan.
A Study of Diplomatic Protocol and Etiquette: From Theory to Practice
by Jiali Zhou Guobin ZhangThis book, with its focus on the study of diplomatic protocol and etiquette, collects high-quality papers written by scholars in diplomatic protocol from nine countries, including US, UK, Russia, Japan, Canada, Netherlands, India and China. As a result of in-depth international academic cooperation, it explores diplomatic protocol from three dimensions of theory, practice and country-specific and has the characteristics of internationality and nationality. From a global perspective, it is the first time that experts from so many countries work together in diplomatic protocol which makes this book present a more comprehensive and diverse overview. This book, as an effort made to enhance understanding among different cultures and facilitate the harmonious coexistence of people across the world, is remarkably helpful for promoting the research of diplomatic protocol and etiquette, exploring the true connotation of protocol and etiquette, and improving its practicality in realities.
Gender as a Political Instrument Forming New Boundaries by Ethnic and Religious Diasporas in European Union
by Konstantin S. SharovThis book considers gender as a convenient tool for making new boundaries within the European Union. It offers a political analysis based on sociological surveys conveyed by the author in 2008–2021. It emphasises the utmost necessity of a proper understanding of specific gender political technologies applied in ethnic and religious diasporas within the EU borders, by EU ruling elites, to avoid ideological collapse in relations with diaspora political groups and general members. The book demonstrates that uncritical application of EU gender equality programs within diasporas may transform gender to a dangerous political force destabilising the European Union. The monograph will be of interest for political science researchers, legislators, and administrators that work with political dimension of gender.
The Change of Global Economic Governance and China
by Yuyan ZhangThis book focuses on global economic governance covering the following five areas: the theoretical and historical evolution of global economic governance, international financial governance, international trade and investment governance, global climate change and sustainable development governance, and international macroeconomic policy coordination. On the one hand, this book aims to provide a general analytical framework for studying global economic governance. On the other hand, the study on global economic governance involves understanding its historical development, exploring its emergence and evolution, analyzing what challenges global economic governance faces in the context of a new globalization, looking into its future development trends, and proposing the direction of the reform of global economic governance system on the above basis, and finally providing theoretical references and policy advice for China’s better participation in global economic governance.
Artificial Intelligence with Chinese Characteristics: National Strategy, Security and Authoritarian Governance
by Jinghan Zeng“This book provides the first book-lengthy study focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Chinese characteristics, in line with China’s open ambition of becoming an AI superpower by 2030. China’s unique domestic politics has developed distinct characteristics for its AI approach. By analysing national strategy, security and governance aspects of AI in China, this book argues that China’s AI approach is sophisticated and multifaceted, and it has brought about both considerable benefits and challenges to China. First, many characterize China’s AI approach as a nationally concerted top-down geopolitical strategy to advance Beijing’s unified objective. This book argues that this view is mistaken. It shows that China’s AI politics is largely shaped by economically rather than geopolitically motivated domestic stakeholders. In addition, China’s national AI plan is an upgrade of existing local AI initiatives to the national level, reflecting a bottom-up development. Thus, China’s AI strategy is more of a political manifesto rather than a concrete policy plan. The second part of the book discusses how the Chinese central government has been securitizing AI in order to mobilize local states, market actors, intellectuals and the general public. This security discourse is built on China’s historical anxieties about technology, regime security needs and the growing tension caused by great power competition. Despite its help in convincing domestic actors, however, this securitization trend may undermine key AI objectives. The third part of the book studies the Chinese governance approach to the use of AI. It argues that China’s bold AI practices are part of its broad and incoherent adaptation strategy to governance by digital means. AI is part of a digital technology package that the Chinese authoritarian regime has actively employed not only to improve public services but also to strengthen its authoritarian governance. While China’s AI progress benefits from its unique political and social environment, its ambitious AI plan contains considerable risks. China’s approach is gambling on its success in (a) delivering a booming AI economy, (b) ensuring a smooth social transformation to the age of AI, and (c) proving ideological superiority of its authoritarian and communist values. This book suggests that a more accurate understanding of AI with Chinese characteristics is essential in order to inform the debate regarding what lessons can be learnt from China’s AI approach and how to respond to China’s rise as the AI leader if not superpower.”
Climate Change, Forests and Federalism: Australian Experience
by Evgeny GuglyuvatyyClimate change is one of the most serious global challenges facing humankind. Climate change has enormous environmental and economic implications, and finding a solution is a daunting task. The purpose of this book is to look at the global problem of climate change through the prism of an individual country's attempt to tackle this problem.This book begins with a discussion of the origins of climate change and the evolution of the international response to climate change. Key climate change mitigation actions and policies are considered to provide the necessary framework for analysing Australia's approach to climate change. Australia's climate change policy development is considered from a historical perspective. The book traces the evolution of the response to climate change, focusing on Australia as one of the Federal countries unable to adequately reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to the systematic failure of the Australian government to develop a common and effective approach to the problem of climate change. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of environmental law and the contemporary International and Australian climate change law.
China’s Vocational Education Reform: Explorations and Analysis (Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices)
by Eryong Xue Jian LiThis book explores the holistic development of vocational education in Chinese education system. It investigates the vocational education policy development, student development, allocation of teachers’ resources, financial mechanism and system, students’ financial aid, examination and enrollment, private vocational education system, and school-enterprise cooperation. In addition, this book critically examines and epitomizes the contextualized China’s vocational education reform from multiple dimensions. This book also offers an in-depth explorations and analysis of current Chinese vocational education reform comprehensively. This is a highly informative and carefully presented book, providing academic insight for scholars and researchers who are interested and work in research on China’s vocational education reform in China as well as the administrators and stakeholders in Chinese education system and graduate students who majoring in the field of educational policy.
Restructuring Cultural Landscapes in Metropolitan Areas: Characterization, Typology and Design Research (The Urban Book Series)
by Yuting XieThis book introduces a ten-year-long design research project in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China, based on international cooperation studios, design workshops, a Ph.D. thesis, and concrete practice in China, Germany, and the Netherlands. This research adapts the existing methods of Landscape Character Assessment (UK), Historic Cultural Landscape Elements (Germany), and Dutch Polder Typology to mapping, describing, and classifying landscape character areas and types at the three scales of regional, municipal, and local. Furthermore, to connect research with design, we developed a typological approach of generating specific measures for the networked polder landscape. This research bridges the gap of a missing landscape characterization method for the conservation, transformation, and critical reconstruction of historic cultural landscapes in a metropolitan context. The book is intended for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners interested in the topics of cultural landscape in transition, methods for landscape characterization and typology, and a research-by-design approach in interdisciplinary projects of landscape architecture, urbanism, and regional planning.
Indian Agriculture Towards 2030: Pathways for Enhancing Farmers’ Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food and Farm Systems (India Studies in Business and Economics)
by Ramesh Chand Pramod Joshi Shyam KhadkaThis open access book brings together varying perspectives for transformational change needed in India’s agriculture and allied sectors. Stressing the need of thinking for a post-Green Revolution future, the book promotes approaching this change through eight broad areas, indicating the policy shifts needed to meet the challenges for the coming decade (2021-2030).The book comprises of ten contributions. Apart from the overview chapter on transformational change and the concluding chapter on pathways for 2030, there are eight thematic chapters on topics such as transforming Indian agriculture, dietary diversity for nutritive and safe food; climate crisis and risk management; water in agriculture; pests, pandemics, preparedness and biosecurity natural farming; agroecology and biodiverse futures; science, technology and innovation in agriculture; and structural reforms and governance. The writing style of these papers written by technical experts is forward-looking—not merely an analysis of what has been and why it was so, but what ought to be.This is an essential reading for those interested in agriculture, food and nutrition sectors of India, and more so their interconnectedness.
The Political Culture of East Asia: A Civilization of Total Power
by Oleg PakhomovThis book explores the phenomenon of total power in East Asia, with particular attention to China, Korea, and Japan. It shows how total power enables an examination of regional experience as a part of global context in order to demarcate the connections with other countries and regions that have similar political cultures, such as those in Central Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Moreover, it elucidates that the phenomenon of total power unpacks the interrelations not only between different countries, but also between political, economic, religious, or cultural aspects of the region as a whole, and of each country in particular. This book takes East Asia as a classic example of where total power has achieved the highest forms of development during traditional periods in the form of absolute economic dependence of society on the state, ideologically enshrined by a system of moral obligations toward supreme power that allowed for the establishment of a monopoly on forced labour, and the appropriation and distribution of social products. The author emphasizes the importance of exploring the tradition of total power with reference to the ongoing global crisis of European democracy. In doing so, the book shows that democratization has not brought qualitative changes to the political culture of East Asia. An essential interdisciplinary read for scholars studying political science, particularly East-West relations, this book situates East Asian political culture within a global context.
Inclusive Sustainability: Harmonising Disability Law and Policy
by Ottavio QuiricoIn light of the third-generation concept of ‘inclusive sustainability’, the volume explores the architecture of global disability governance and its degree of harmonisation. The book integrates socio-cultural, economic, political and legal analyses from an international and comparative perspective. The first part of the volume outlines a tripartite systematisation of disability rights for States and non-state persons. In light of essential economic considerations, the second part explores the relationship between disability and specific fundamental rights and regimes, particularly the rights to life, health, education, work and participation. The third part takes an institutional approach and focuses on the way in which the UN and regional organisations regulate disability (rectius, different ability).
Bichara: Moro Chanceries and Jawi Legacy in the Philippines (Islam in Southeast Asia)
by Isaac DonosoThis book focuses on the written heritage of Muslims in the Philippines, the historical constitution of chancelleries within the Islamic sultanates, and the production of official letters to conduct local and international diplomacy. The standard narrative on Muslims in the Philippines is one that centres political and armed struggles within the region. However, two important aspects remain unattended: the cultural and intellectual production of the sultanates, and the Moro involvement in Southeast Asian Islamic civilization. This book connects the development and personality of the Philippine sultanates into the regional context of local communities that adopted an international faith. Political alliances and religious missions altered different ethnolinguistic groups and furnished them with the Word, the Qur’anic message, and the Arabic script. Indeed, customary orality and Adab shaped a way of being and acting modelled after what was called the Bichara. Particularly, the book studies the Moro Letter as cultural craft with political meaning, and Jawi heritage in the Philippines. A general catalogue of Jawi manuscripts from the National Archives of the Philippines is provided as appendix.
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in International Law: Making International Institutions Work
by Bharat H. Desai Moumita MandalThis book addresses sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women from an international law point of view. It identifies the reasons behind SGBV against women with a specific focus on cultural practices that try to justify it and highlights the legal challenges related to the topic for both national and international justice systems. The seven chapters of the book are: i) Introduction ii) SGBV a global concern; iii) International legal protection; iv) Role of international institutions; v) Role of cultural factors and vi) Challenges vii) Conclusions. In the light of concerted global efforts to bring to an end, or at least severely contain SGBV against women, the book provides a future roadmap to the United Nations system, States, international institutions, multidisciplinary scholars, civil society organizations and other global actors.The book contains a Foreword by Peter Maurer, President of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Only Rape! Human Rights and Gender Equality for Refugee Women: From Refugee Camps to the United Nations (Sustainable Development Goals Series)
by Eileen Pittaway Linda Albina BartolomeiThis book charts the roller coaster ride taken by the authors over the past 33 years, in the ongoing fight to acknowledge, prevent, and respond to the rape and sexual abuse of women in conflict and displacement situations. They have worked with an international network of academics, refugee women, and human rights activists in 22 countries. The story moves between refugee camps and the United Nations, refugee settlements in cities and national governments. Theory and ethical research methods are an important part of the story. At times it is very confronting, sometimes amusing and often uplifting.