Lecture on equity and equal opportunity in economic development in India - analyses the objectives of equity, and impacts of economic growth on poverty and income distribution; considers the role of the public sector, regulation of the private sector, role of fiscal policies and monetary policies, of land reform and low income target group- oriented development projects; discusses the preconditions for the attainment of greater equity. References.
Investigating the role of equity, diversity, and affirmative action in colleges and universities in the United States, this book critically examines the issues in light of public debates, voter referenda, and legislative enactments seeking to influence public policy. The contributors argue that providing information and critical skills to students and scholars, preparing students for the world of work (especially in a rapidly changing technological environment), and generating new research and knowledge bases are missions of higher education that can be enhanced with affirmative action as a form of equity.
This book examines the new equity-enhancing politics in China in the context of Chinese traditional cognitive patterns of political legitimacy and its implication for Chinese political development in the near future. Based on an analysis of the new governing philosophy, the generation of political elite, and a new set of public policies, the book reaffirms the emergence of a new Chinese polity that infuses one-party rule with limited electoral and deliberative democracies. Unlike many scholars who perceive the contemporary Chinese history as a constant search for democracy, this book takes a very different approach. It asserts that the enduring question in political development in China today is no different from what was sought after throughout Chinese history, namely, the constant search for political legitimacy. Even though the quest for democracy is instrumental to that end, it may not ultimately lead to the embrace of a full-fledged liberal democracy. The new politics is not only a rationalization of the efficiency-based development, but also a major paradigm shift in China's developmental strategy.
For more than a decade, economist Ronald F. Ferguson has investigated the myriad factors that combine to create racial disparities in academic performance, ranging from school policies and practices to informal interactions between children and their parents and peers. Toward Excellence with Equity brings together Ferguson's most important articles and most recent thinking on these ideas. Taken together, these essays show that closing achievement gaps is more urgent today than ever before--and that dramatic success is possible. "This book issues an urgent call to action to anyone concerned about the lagging success rates among minority children in American schools and the repercussions for our country's future. Ronald Ferguson not only surveys the bleak terrain surrounding the achievement gap, but provides all of us with a road map to reach higher ground." -- Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone "Toward Excellence with Equity is an important book written by one of the nation's foremost experts on education and economic development. Ronald Ferguson's pioneering work on black/white disparities in student skill levels and achievement-test scores has significant public policy implications. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned about narrowing the racial gap in educational attainment and earnings." -- William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University "This book combines high-quality research, judicious insights, brilliant speculation, and common sense to set forth strategies to reduce the achievement gap dramatically. It is particularly compelling in calling for a comprehensive social movement that will not only transform schools but establish strong communities, effective parenting, and powerful peer cultures." -- Henry M. Levin, William H. Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University "Ferguson conducts an authoritative review to show that disparities in academic performance can be closed by strong parental engagement and by parents working in partnership with schools around a shared vision of success for their children. The reality is that educators can't do it alone. This highly intelligent book gives policymakers, educators, and parents essential tools for closing achievement gaps between high-performing and low-performing schools." -- Susan Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio Department of Education "Toward Excellence with Equity is essential reading for any businessperson who cares about the well-being of children and the future quality of the American workforce." -- Bridgette Heller, Chairman of the Executive Leadership Council and Global President of Johnson & Johnson's Baby, Kids, and Wound-Care Division Ronald F. Ferguson is the faculty cochair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University and the founder and director of the Tripod Project for school improvement.
Nanotechnology is enabling applications in materials, microelectronics, health, and agriculture, which are projected to create the next big shift in production, comparable to the industrial revolution. Such major shifts always co-evolve with social relationships. This book focuses on how nanotechnologies might affect equity/equality in global society. Nanotechnologies are likely to open gaps by gender, ethnicity, race, and ability status, as well as between developed and developing countries, unless steps are taken now to create a different outcome. Organizations need to change their practices, and cultural ideas must be broadened if currently disadvantaged groups are to have a more equal position in nano-society rather than a more disadvantaged one. Economic structures are likely to shift in the nano-revolution, requiring policymakers and participatory processes to invent new institutions for social welfare, better suited to the new economic order than those of the past.
Brazil's leadership role in the fight against HIV has brought its public health system widespread praise. But the nation still faces serious health challenges and inequities. Though home to the world's second largest African-descendant population, Brazil failed to address many of its public health issues that disproportionately impact Afro-Brazilian women and men. Kia Lilly Caldwell draws on twenty years of engagement with activists, issues, and policy initiatives to document how the country's feminist health movement and black women's movement have fought for much-needed changes in women's health. Merging ethnography with a historical analysis of policies and programs, Caldwell offers a close examination of institutional and structural factors that have impacted the quest for gender and racial health equity in Brazil. As she shows, activists have played an essential role in policy development in areas ranging from maternal mortality to female sterilization. Caldwell's insightful portrait of the public health system also details how its weaknesses contribute to ongoing failures and challenges while also imperiling the advances that have been made.
Economic Revitalization is unique in that it discusses leading revitalization strategies in the context of both city and suburban settings, offering case studies of program development and implementation. In Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb Fitzgerald and Leigh answer the need for a text that incorporates social justice and sustainability into how we think about and practice economic development. It is one of the first to talk about how revitalization strategies are implemented in both cities and suburbs, particularly inner-ring suburbs that are experiencing decline previously associated only with inner-city neighborhoods. After setting the context with a brief history of economic development practice and its shortcomings, Fitzgerald and Leigh focus on six economic development strategies: sectoral strategies, Brownfield redevelopment, industrial retention, commercial revitalization, industrial and office property reuse, and workforce development. Each of these chapters begins with an overview of the strategy and then presents cases of how it is being implemented. The cases draw from Atlanta, Chicago and its suburbs, Emeryville, Kalamazoo, Louisville, New Haven, Portland, Sandy Springs, and Seattle (and suburban King County). They illustrate the tradeoffs often made in achieving one goal at the expense of another. Although they admit that some of the cases come up short in illustrating a more equitable and sustainable economic development practice, Fitzgerald and Leigh conclude with an optimistic view that the field is changing. The book is aimed at students and practitioners of economic development planning who seek to foster stronger economies and greater opportunity in inner cites and older suburbs. It is also meant to assist planners in thriving new towns and suburban communities seeking to avoid future economic decline as their communities mature. Economic Revitalization: Discusses practice in both suburban and inner-city settings Integrates the planning values of social justice and sustainability into the discussion of implementation strategies Includes cases that reveal the political nature of the planning process and the types of tradeoffs that often must be made Provides insights for planners seeking to adopt "best practice" programs from other localities
Georges Abi-Saab began his writing and teaching at a time when the process of decolonization, and thereafter the quest for emancipation, began to make its far-reaching impact on the international scene, producing significant changes in the international environment, both quantitatively in increasing the number of nation-States and qualitatively in changing patterns of interests and claims. This was bound to result in new pressures on the international legal system itself and in a questioning of the traditional Eurocentric content of international law. In his work and teaching Professor Abi-Saab viewed the dynamics of international law as a function of two driving forces: the emergence of the third world and the sense of injustice. In his view, the first driving force - the emergence of the third world - raised the problem of exclusion: exclusion from participation in the elaboration of international law and the decision-making process, and exclusion as beneficiaries of the resulting rules of international law. At the same time, this new force introduced diversity into the international scene, reflecting the richness of the international community in its different facets. This process remains relevant today, reflecting the contemporary problem of exclusion of new actors as well as their quest for participation. The second driving force - the sense of injustice - posed a teleological problem for him, that of defining community values in order that they capture the different facets of justice, whether formal or distributive. So long as there is no effective organic structure, international law in his view will continue to remain effectiveness-oriented, reflecting rather than impacting on the structures of power. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is an on-going process of development of community values and interests; as Georges Abi-Saab wrote with reference to international crimes: `law, like all social phenomena, is a continuous unfolding, a continuous process of elaboration'. He has also considered that the dynamics of the international legal process itself can be captured from the perspective of international organizations as vehicles for change in the international system. From his early writings, Georges Abi-Saab approached the United Nations Charter as a blueprint - both normative and institutional - for a certain type of international society. International institutions with all their imperfections, continue for him to be the means of realization of the law of cooperation which lies at the heart of his concept of the international system. The themes selected for this volume in honour of Professor Georges Abi-Saab are intended to reflect his unique and pioneering contribution to the field of international law. The contributors are drawn from what he has always considered to be his large `family' of former students: in his forty years of teaching, Georges Abi-Saab has acted as mentor to generations of students from all over the world who have benefited from his vision, insights, originality and creative and stimulating use of language. The contributors also include colleagues and friends who share a similar vision of the international legal system.
