Suchergebnisse

Vietnam's shift to a market-based society has brought about profound realignments in its people's relations with each other. As the nation continues its retreat from the legacies of war and socialism, significant social rifts have emerged that divide citizens by class, region and ethnicity. By drawing on social connections as a traditional resource, Vietnamese are able to accumulate wealth, overcome marginalisation and achieve social mobility. However, such relationship-building strategies are also fraught with peril for they have the potential to entrench pre-existing social divisions and lead to new forms of disconnectedness. This book examines the dynamics of connection and disconnection in the lives of contemporary Vietnamese. It features 11 chapters by anthropologists who draw upon research in both highland and lowland contexts to shed light on social capital disparities, migration inequalities and the benefits and perils of gift exchange. The authors investigate ethnic minority networks, the politics of poverty, patriotic citizenship, and the 'heritagisation' of culture. Tracing shifts in how Vietnamese people relate to their consociates and others, the chapters elucidate the social legacies of socialism, nation-building and the transition to a globalised market-based economy. With compelling case studies and including many previously unheard perspectives, this book offers original insights into social ties and divisions among the modern Vietnamese.

The question of political reform in China in the scholarly literature and newspaper reports often comes down to a dilemma: either China will follow the path of post-Soviet-type democratization, or it will remain committed to the old postulates of communist development. However, the experience of state-led efforts to reform China has proved more than once that China seeks its own path to political modernization, not confined to these two extremes. In the political field, China has already achieved progress unknown to the late period of the Soviet Union: intra-party rotation of leaders every 10 years to avoid political stagnation, open immigration and emigration policies, freedom, though restrained, of political discourse, and diversity of views in mass media--all these changes deserve thorough attention and study. Here, Smirnova discusses the thrust of Chinese political reform. Adapted from the source document.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reconfigured personal, organisational and political landscapes in quite radical ways. This paper reflects on the differentiated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses to it. We unpack some of the effects of the crisis on populations already subject to harassment, persecution and deprivation due to their marginal position in society or their resistance to state power. We illuminate how the current crisis is much more than a health crisis; the ways it exacerbates already existing deprivations; and how it might reveal hitherto unrecognised opportunities through which to make the world a more, rather than less, just and equitable place. Focus is on the way the crisis calls forth amplified forms of repression and consonantly amplified forms of vulnerability as well as reconfigured spaces for the operation of civil society organisations. We forward one key proposition, namely that while securitised responses to the crisis reveal an inherent conservatism, civil society responses reveal an agility and a capacity to innovate. While the inherent conservatism of securitised responses gives cause for serious concern, there is some hope to be found in the potential for innovation of civil society organisations. The revelation of humankind's shared vulnerability that is a feature of the crisis may serve as a springboard for the propagation of progressive change if we keep in mind the fundamentally human, and thus relational, nature of human rights and anti-torture work.

The study assessed the contribution of the non-oil sector to the economic growth in Nigeria between the periods 1981 and 2019. The study employed the ARDL bound test for cointegration to analyze the direction among the variables under review. The results of the analysis revealed that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between non-oil exports (NOE) and economic growth (RGDP) in Nigeria during the period under investigation in the long-run for manufacturing (MANX) and solid mineral (SOLX) except for agricultural export (AGRX). There is also a bidirectional causal relationship between non-oil exports and economic growth in Nigeria during the same period. The study, therefore, recommended that the Nigerian government and other stakeholders should make a country's non-oil export commodities more attractive and competitive in the global market which will prompt the demand for Nigeria's non-oil goods at the international market.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report an International Symposium on Occupation, Education, and Inequality in Japan and Korea. Discusses earn of the papers of the seven speakers.Design/methodology/approachThe SRC and the CSSI cosponsored the symposium.FindingsThe papers presented various aspects of Korean society in terms of occupation, education and inequality.Originality/valueSome of the papers revealed subtle interactions between economic factors and traditional and cultural factors in Korea.

This paper provides a broad empirical examination of the major currencies' roles in international capital markets, with a special emphasis on the first year of the euro. A contribution is made as to how to measure these roles, both for international financing as well as for international investment. The times series collected for these measures allow for the identification of changes in the role of the euro during 1999 compared to the aggregate of euro predecessor currencies, net of intra -euro area assets/liabilities, before stage 3 of EMU. A number of key factors determining the currency distribution of international portfolio investments, such as relative market liquidity and relative risk characteristics of assets, are also examined empirically. It turns out that for almost all important market segments for which data are available, the euro immediately became the second most widely used currency for international financing and investment. For the flow of international bond and note issuance it experienced significant growth in 1999 even slightly overtaking the US dollar in the second half of the year. The euro's international investment role appears more static though, since most of the early external asset supply in euro is actually absorbed by euro area residents.

This book is an ideal text for students studying a key period of Soviet economic history. It brings together and makes available in textbook form the results of the latest research on Soviet industrialisation, using a vast amount of primary evidence, and the methods of quantitative economic analysis. Leading scholars in the field analyse the Soviet economy sector by sector, from agriculture to defence and technology, and look at the key indicators of economic health over the period: employment, national income, exports, and population trends. The book concludes with two chapters comparing the Russian economy at war under tsarism and communism