Suchergebnisse

This article considers the rising importance regional power development in a world where the stability of political alliances is increasingly brought into question. Most world leaders agree that these emerging economies will come to play an ever-more powerful role in the shaping of tomorrow's global policies, even if they do not themselves occupy the leading socio-political slots. Several possible policy configurations for China, India, Brazil, & South Africa are considered here, focusing on the degree to which these countries will both collectively & independently choose to balance their engagement between their local sphere of influence & their strategic global allies, namely the US & EU. It is suggested that the direction China elects to take in its policy over the coming years will have a decisive role for the other developing regions as a whole, because its economic power will largely temper the attitudes of the dominant world powers towards these regional powers. Tables, References. C. Brunski

Draws on the New Regionalism Approach (NRA) to analyze the political economy of the new regionalism in southern Africa in the post-Cold War & postapartheid era. The NRA challenges much of conventional wisdom in the field, which is seen as narrowly focused on intergovernmental regional organizations & intraregional trade. The analysis identifies four main types of regionalism in southern Africa, which to a large extent occur within the larger context of economic globalization, neoliberalism, & the retreat of the state: (1) open regionalism, (2) microregionalism, (3) private firms led regionalism, & (4) informal regionalism from below. Both open regionalism & microregionalism (as built around the concept of spatial development initiatives) seek to reinforce economic globalization & market integration, & attract foreign direct investment to bankable private investment projects. Together with the firms driven regionalism, which is constructed by & around large South African business enterprises, these three types of regionalism sustain a particular pattern of elite driven regionalism centered on economic growth, trade, & capital intensive projects in the formal economy, with little focus on development & poverty reduction. To a large extent, the myriad of activities included in informal regionalism from below emerges as a consequence of the negative & exclusionary effects of neoliberalism & the three types of elite driven regionalism. 47 References. Adapted from the source document.

"Health and healing have been central concerns throughout human history. Individuals and societies have devised multiple ways to health. Healing practices have often been linked to questions of knowledge, power, politics, and morals. The limits of acceptable healing have been contested by men and women, priests and doctors, elites and commoners, indigenous peoples and colonialists. Successful healers have sometimes been labeled as witches, quacks, or dangerous political agitators. The contributions in this volume concentrate on healing in global history with case studies about Finland, southern Asia and Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and North America. They discuss medical pluralism and consider the arguments for and against individual healers and different healing systems. The authors focus on the popularity of medical systems, the appropriation and adoption of healing practices in cross-cultural contexts, and the prohibition of certain forms of healing.
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The book approaches the history of Finnish development cooperation through the experiences of development aid workers. At its core is a small group of Finns (experts and officials from different fields) who have worked with international development aid in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Their memories and experiences, together with diverse archival material offer an interesting window into the world of development (cooperation), or "Aidland", from the 1960s to the turn of the millennium.
The research focuses on the personal motives and experiences of Finnish aid workers from the 1960s to the 2000s. The book offers perspectives on the historical construction of Aidland since the 1940s and on the gradual integration of Finland and the Finns into its structures. It describes the mindset of the first two generations of aid workers and the factors that made them interested in developing countries. The book follows their education, their first contacts with Aidland, adaptation to work and conditions, returning home and the challenges that come with it. The study gives the reader a view of the power positions, hierarchies and contradictions in Aidland and development cooperation, which at times led Finns to reassess their motives and justify to themselves the meaningfulness of the entire undertaking. Through their experiences, the book also deals with the less-known side of development cooperation, such as corruption, prejudices, and opposition to development projects, as well as their occasionally unwanted consequences in partner/recipient countries. It also sheds light on the effects of the Aidland experience on an individual's worldview and identity.
The book is an academic study suitable for a wide audience, from university students to ordinary readers interested in development cooperation. The book helps to understand both the history of development and the construction of multi-level connections of Finnish society with the countries of the Global South. It is therefore also ideally suited for readers interested in the development of Finland's internationalization in the late twentieth century. For its part, the book contributes to wider public debates on development cooperation.

An overall discussion on the history and definition of piracy, how it affects world trade, what actions have been taken against it and how its existence is explained. According to the statistics of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which has kept statistics since 1990, six ships out of 1000 have been attacked by pirates primarily in Southeast Asia and Costal Africa. On average 350 attacks are conducted, costing 16 billion dollars and several lives each year. Since the September 11 attacks, the interest of research around piracy has increased. These studies have linked piracy with failed states and a depressed fishing industry. L. Pitkaniemi