Although adopting global norms often improves domestic systems of governance, domestic obstacles to norm diffusion are frequent. States that decide to reinvent their political authority simultaneously evaluate which current global norms are desirable and to what extent. In this study, Vlad Kravtsov argues that recent debates about the nature of authority in Putin's Russia and Mbeki's South Africa have resulted in a set of unique ideas on the cardinal goals of the state. This is the first book to explore how these consensual ideas have shaped health governance and impinged on norm diffusion processes. Detailed comparisons of HIV/AIDS governance systems in Russia and South Africa illustrate the argument. The Kremlin's dislike of international recommendations stemmed from the rapidly maturing statism and great power syndrome. Pretoria's responses to global AIDS norms were consistent with the ideas of the African Renaissance, which highlighted indigenousness, market-based empowerment, and moral leadership in global affairs. This book explains how and why the governments under investigation framed the nature of the epidemic, provided evidence-based prevention services, increased universal access to proven lifesaving medicines, and interacted with other participants in social practice.
Although adopting global norms often improves domestic systems of governance, domestic obstacles to norm diffusion are frequent. States that decide to reinvent their political authority simultaneously evaluate which current global norms are desirable and to what extent. In this study, Vlad Kravtsov argues that recent debates about the nature of authority in Putin’s Russia and Mbeki’s South Africa have resulted in a set of unique ideas on the cardinal goals of the state. This is the first book to explore how these consensual ideas have shaped health governance and impinged on norm diffusion processes. Detailed comparisons of HIV/AIDS governance systems in Russia and South Africa illustrate the argument. The Kremlin’s dislike of international recommendations stemmed from the rapidly maturing statism and great power syndrome. Pretoria’s responses to global AIDS norms were consistent with the ideas of the African Renaissance, which highlighted indigenousness, market-based empowerment, and moral leadership in global affairs. This book explains how and why the governments under investigation framed the nature of the epidemic, provided evidence-based prevention services, increased universal access to proven lifesaving medicines, and interacted with other participants in social practice.
"This work identifies and explains significant variation in the extent and forms of NGO engagement with global governance institutions and how effective NGOs are in bringing the norms and policy recommendations from the global level to domestic arenas. We combine insights from international relations with the lens of comparative politics to understand NGO participation and mediation. We argue that "going global" in whatever form creates some common challenges for NGOs. If they go global to expand their influence - whether through funding, information, or stricter standards - they become caught between two institutional frameworks and sets of norms. There are challenges inherent to that multi-level activism regardless of the particular form of participation. At the same time, the specific nature of the challenges faced by NGOs depends on domestic political arrangements"--
This book explores and discusses emerging perspectives of Ubuntu from the vantage point of “ordinary” people and connects it to human rights and decolonizing discourses. It engages a decolonizing perspective in writing about Ubuntu as an indigenous concept. The fore grounding argument is that one’s positionality speaks to particular interests that may continue to sustain oppressions instead of confronting and dismantling them. Therefore, a decolonial approach to writing indigenous experiences begins with transparency about the researcher’s own positionality. The emerging perspectives of this volume are contextual, highlighting the need for a critical reading for emerging, transformative and alternative visions in human relations and social structures.
This bestselling introductory book offers practical and straightforward guidance on the basics of social research, ideal for anyone who needs to conduct small-scale research projects as part of their undergraduate, postgraduate or professional studies. The book provides: • A clear, straightforward introduction to data collection methods and data analysis • Jargon-free coverage of the key issues • Checklists to guide good practice The sixth edition has been extensively updated and includes features such as: • A new chapter on the Life Course Perspective • A new chapter on Literature Reviews • New material on the Delphi Technique • An updated and expanded chapter on the analysis of Quantitative Data • New examples and illustrations throughout The Good Research Guide, 6th edition is a valuable resource for anyone conducting social research including those in applied areas such as business studies, health studies, nursing, education, social work, policy studies, marketing, media studies and criminology. "Denscombe's The Good Research Guide, now in its 6th edition, continues to be one of the leading books in the field. It covers the topics a student or practitioner doing a research project needs to know from project design, theoretical underpinnings of research, data collection and analysis to writing up your research. Its accessible and practical approach means that it is an excellent resource for those new to undertaking independent research." Liam Foster, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work, Sheffield University, UK "Martyn Denscombe's text continues to remain core reading for those undertaking small pieces of research and those who need to gain a firm grounding in the principles of research theory and practice. From deciding on a research approach to the process of writing up, this finely balanced edition offers a comprehensive and detailed guide to the research cycle. Pragmatic, and with the needs of the researcher always in mind, it makes social science research accessible, undaunting, and, what's more, a completely possible, stimulating, and enjoyable endeavour." Yunis Alam, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bradford, UK "The Good Research Guide provides a comprehensive view of the complex strategies and approaches of conducting social research, explained in simple terms. Relevant examples and check lists provided in each section not only helps to gain better understanding but also reflect on one’s own research. This book has tremendously helped me to gain knowledge and understanding of complex research strategies. It will provide clear guidance and direction for students and researchers in their research journey to achieve success." Deborah Ebenezer, Research Student "I think the book has a very good précis of areas relevant to the title. It outlines very well in a logical order the elements pertinent to 'social research'. Each chapter is relatively comprehensive and deals with subject material that is important, in a language that is accessible throughout. It does what it says on the tin and provides practical information and guidance as a 'how to' text' for those needing help with this type of research project. In particular I think the checklists are an excellent chapter ending to help plan and bring into sharp focus what is needed for any particular approach. The within chapter examples are excellent and help to further inform the reader what the author is trying to convey. Chapter links help further embed concepts and show how the various research elements may be associated. Overall an excellent introductory text that embodies a no-nonsense approach to a subject that can be at times complex. By breaking down topic areas and giving simple examples the subject is eminently accessible to the reader. Well done!" Stephen Pearson, Senior Lecturer in Human and Applied Physiology, School of Health Sciences, University of Salford, UK "This new edition provides comprehensive guidance to those undertaking small-scale social research projects including dissertations in business and management and the social sciences and I would recommend its use for all those new to research and also to refresh the thinking of those with prior research experience. Part 1 addresses a range of strategies for social research including surveys, sampling, case studies, experiments, ethnography, the life course perspective, grounded theory, action research, phenomenology, systematic review and mixed methods. There are few texts which address research strategies in such a comprehensive manner. The text develops in Part 2 by providing clear guidance on the selection and use of appropriate methods of data collection such as questionnaires, interviews, observation and documentary analysis, taking into account the aims and objective of the research project. Part 4 considers both quantitative and qualitative data analysis with Part 4 providing essential information on research ethics, the reporting of research and on the conduct and presentation of the literature review essential to all research projects. I have no hesitation in commending this text for use by undergraduate and post-graduate students as well as those undertaking research projects independent of an academic programme." Dr. Bobby Mackie, Senior Lecturer, School of Business and Enterprise, University of the West of Scotland, UK
Cargill argues that Western governments must engage with Africa in more than humanitarian terms if they do not want to lose global influence and trade advantage as China, Turkey, South Korea, and Brazil deepen their ties with African states.
In a city that has lost its shimmer, Lindanathi and his two friends Ruan and Cecelia sell illegal pharmaceuticals while chasing their next high. Lindanathi, deeply troubled by his hand in his brother’s death, has turned his back on his family, until a message from home reminds him of a promise he made years before. When a puzzling masked man enters their lives, Lindanathi is faced with a decision: continue his life in Cape Town, or return to his family and to all he has left behind. Rendered in lyrical, bright prose and set in a not-so-new South Africa, The Reactive is a poignant, life-affirming story about secrets, memory, chemical abuse and family, and the redemption that comes from facing what haunts us most.
The early twenty-first century has seen the beginning of a considerable shift in the global balance of power. Major international governance challenges can no longer be addressed without the ongoing co-operation of the large countries of the global South. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, ASEAN states, and Mexico wield great influence in the macro-economic foundations upon which rest the global political economy and institutional architecture. It remains to be seen how the size of the emerging powers translates into the ability to shape the international system to their own will. In this book, leading international relations experts examine the positions and roles of key emerging countries in the potential transformation of the G8 and the prospects for their deeper engagement in international governance. The essays consider a number of overlapping perspectives on the G8 Heiligendamm Process, a co-operation agreement that originated from the 2007 summit, and offer an in-depth look at the challenges and promises presented by the rise of the emerging powers. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation
Since the mid-1990s, the emergence of a hydrogen economy and the speed with which it will arrive have been vigorously debated. As a disruptive technology, dominant designs for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen have not yet been established. Neither have performance characteristics been achieved to compete with the existing combustion engine, though the efficiency and durability of hydrogen fuel cells are improving. This publication highlights the uncertainties involved in making choices about hydrogen and fuel cells in planning the development policies on national energy, environment and transport sector.--Publisher's description.
One of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020. Longlisted for the 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize. "[Mark] Gevisser is clear-eyed and wise enough to have a sharp sense of how tough the struggle has been, and how hard it will be now for those who have not succeeded in finding shelter from prejudice." --Colm Tóibín, The Guardian A groundbreaking look at how the issues of sexuality and gender identity divide and unite the world today More than seven years in the making, Mark Gevisser’s The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers is an exploration of how the conversation around sexual orientation and gender identity has come to divide—and describe—the world in an entirely new way over the first two decades of the twenty-first century. No social movement has brought change so quickly and with such dramatically mixed results. While same-sex marriage and gender transition are celebrated in some parts of the world, laws are being strengthened to criminalize homosexuality and gender nonconformity in others. As new globalized queer identities are adopted by people across the world—thanks to the digital revolution—fresh culture wars have emerged. A new Pink Line, Gevisser argues, has been drawn across the globe, and he takes readers to its frontiers. Between sensitive and sometimes startling profiles of the queer folk he’s encountered along the Pink Line, Gevisser offers sharp analytical chapters exploring identity politics, religion, gender ideology, capitalism, human rights, moral panics, geopolitics, and what he calls “the new transgender culture wars.” His subjects include a Ugandan refugee in flight to Canada, a trans woman fighting for custody of her child in Moscow, a lesbian couple campaigning for marriage equality in Mexico, genderqueer high schoolers coming of age in Michigan, a gay Israeli-Palestinian couple searching for common ground, and a community of kothis—“women’s hearts in men’s bodies”—who run a temple in an Indian fishing village. What results is a moving and multifaceted picture of the world today, and the queer people defining it. Eye-opening, heartfelt, expertly researched, and compellingly narrated, The Pink Line is a monumental—and urgent—journey of unprecedented scope into twenty-first-century identity, seen through the border posts along the world’s new LGBTQ+ frontiers.
