The 2008 economic and financial crisis marked the beginning of a period of social transformation and uncertainty that continues to characterise present and future social development in unplanned and unexpected ways, with frequently harmful effects. It has highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of crises phenomena and how these affect the overall course of human development. On the one hand, the social sciences constitute a means for acquiring a better understanding of the character of the rapid and complex social transformations associated with crises. On the other hand, they can orientate people and social practices on how a greater degree of collective and democratic control can be acquired over the manner and direction of social processes in crises contexts. This book brings together a team of international scholars to address the notion of crises. Two main strains of inquiry orientate this study. First, it questions how different sociological and theoretical approaches might contribute to explain crises phenomena, analyse their effects, and identify their potential future paths of development. Secondly, it considers how crises processes and their effects on human social existence demand a re-thinking of the role of the social sciences in society, and what such a role might be. This volume not only opens up future lines of research by providing a comprehensive approach to crises phenomena, but also fills an important gap in the literature about crises which is frequently focused on only one of these dimensions and on particular historical contexts, rather than producing more comprehensive frameworks regarding the study of crises processes as a whole.

This volume together scholars specializing in different parts of the world to give us a comparative understanding of the persistence of corruption in some societies. The reader is privileged to learn from the many global variations that are skilfully presented for further analyses. Corruption is a salient feature of human condition in any organized society. Further, where risks are low and the returns high, corruption is almost inevitable. Apart from this, traditional public behaviour comes precariously close to what in the West might amount to corrupt practices. Bureaucratic corruption should be understood in the light of a clash of morality on the one hand and legality on the other. There is a contradiction between traditional values, which are held in respect and are a part of everyday life of a people, and norms of the larger society which stand out as compelling forces. The idea of the modern division between the public and private office is alien to a traditional culture and corruption finds space when this division is not strictly observed. Seven essays in this volume cover a range of countries which include India, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia. As the essays unfold themselves, the problem of corruption takes on an added dimension, that of a legacy left behind by colonialism. Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

This book examines the waves of protest that broke out in the 2010s as the collective actions of self-organized publics. Drawing on theories of publics/counter-publics and developing an analytical framework that allows the comparison of different country cases, this volume explores the transformation from spontaneous demonstrations, driven by civic outrage against injustice to more institutionalized forms of protest. Presenting comparative research and case studies on e.g. the Portuguese Generation in Trouble, the Arab Spring in Northern Africa, or Occupy Wall Street in the USA, the authors explore how protest publics emerge and evolve in very different ways – from creating many small citizen groups focused on particular projects to more articulated political agendas for both state and society. These protest publics have provoked and legitimized concrete socio-political changes, altering the balance of power in specific political spaces, and in some cases generating profound moments of instability that can lead both to revolutions and to peaceful transformations of political institutions. The authors argue that this recent wave of protests is driven by a new type of social actor: self-organized publics. In some cases these protest publics can lead to democratic reform and redistributive policies, while in others they can produce destabilization, ethnic and nationalist populism, and authoritarianism. This book will help readers to better understand how seemingly spontaneous public events and protests evolve into meaningful, well-structured collective action and come to shape political processes in diverse regions of the globe.

This book explores how successful the various tenets of economic thought have been in prognosticating or remedying economic crises. Examining key episodes in economic history, from famines in antiquity to present-day financial collapse, the author finds that several theories failed to cope with a crisis and lost their academic impact. The author also presents cases in which major theoretical innovations were achieved after the experience of a crisis as well as cases where a completely new theory was needed to explain and face the events. This book will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in understanding how theoretical developments in economics are affected by real-world economic crises.

Introduction -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 : an overview of neglected ideas from economics, psychology, and values / A.G. Malliaris, Leslie Shaw, and Hersh Shefrin -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and economics -- From asset price bubbles to liquidity traps / A.G. Malliaris -- A minsky meltdown: lessons for central bankers / Janet Yellen -- Modeling financial instability / Steve Keen -- Assessing the contribution of hyman minsky's perspective to our understanding of economic instability / Hersh Shefrin -- The Great Recession of 2008-09 and its impact on unemployment / John Silvia -- Mathematical definition, mapping, and detection of (anti)fragility / Nassim Taleb and Rafael Douady -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and psychology -- The varieties of incentive experience / Robert Kolb -- Goals and the organization of choice under risk in both the long run and the short run / Lola Lopes -- Topology of greed and fear / Graciela Chichilnisky -- A sustainable understanding of instability in minds and in markets / Leslie Shaw -- Existence of monopoly in the stock market : a model of information-based manipulation / Viktoria Dalko, Lawrence R. Klein, S. Prakash Sethi, and Michael Wang -- Crisis of authority / Werner DeBondt -- Social structure, power, and financial fraud / Brooke Harrington -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and values -- Economics, self psychology, and ethics : why modern economic persons cheat and how self psychology can provide the basis for a trustworthy economic world / John Riker -- Finance professionals in the market for status / Meir Statman -- Why risk management failed: ethical and behavioral explanations / John Boatright -- The global financial crisis and social justice : the crisis seen through the lens of Catholic social doctrine / Paul Fitzgerald, S.J -- The moral benefits of financial crises: a virtue ethics perspective / John Dobson -- Three ethical dimensions of the financial crisis / Antonio Argandonan -- Epilogue -- Lessons for future financial stability / A.G. Malliaris, Leslie Shaw, and Hersh Shefrin

No event is as traumatic as the death of a child. Dr. Knapp has interviewed over 155 families who experienced such a loss to determine how they coped or failed to cope. This book presents the results of his research, shedding light on constructive measures for responding to the tragedy, and calling attention to the special needs of surviving family members. Dr. Knapp examines three types of death: death occurring after a long illness, sudden or unexpected death, and death by murder.

A study of water at the intersection of landscape and infrastructure in Paris, Berlin, Lagos, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and London. Water lies at the intersection of landscape and infrastructure, crossing between visible and invisible domains of urban space, in the tanks and buckets of the global South and the vast subterranean technological networks of the global North. In this book, Matthew Gandy considers the cultural and material significance of water through the experiences of six cities: Paris, Berlin, Lagos, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and London. Tracing the evolving relationships among modernity, nature, and the urban imagination, from different vantage points and through different periods, Gandy uses water as a lens through which to observe both the ambiguities and the limits of nature as conventionally understood. Gandy begins with the Parisian sewers of the nineteenth century, captured in the photographs of Nadar, and the reconstruction of subterranean Paris. He moves on to Weimar-era Berlin and its protection of public access to lakes for swimming, the culmination of efforts to reconnect the city with nature. He considers the threat of malaria in Lagos, where changing geopolitical circumstances led to large-scale swamp drainage in the 1940s. He shows how the dysfunctional water infrastructure of Mumbai offers a vivid expression of persistent social inequality in a postcolonial city. He explores the incongruous concrete landscapes of the Los Angeles River. Finally, Gandy uses the fictional scenario of a partially submerged London as the starting point for an investigation of the actual hydrological threats facing that city.

The 1989 Tiananmen crisis marked a crucial turning point for the People's Republic of China. The unprecedented demonstrations of popular dissent triggered the downfall of reformist premier Zhao Ziyang, who supported the students, and the rise of his conservative successor, Li Peng. The subsequent military crackdown on the demonstrators horrified the world and threatened the PRC with international isolation. In this book, distinguished scholars from Taiwan and the United States analyze the wide-ranging effects of the crisis on the role of ideology; the Party; the military; social and legal reform; economic reform; Taiwan and Hong Kong; and foreign relations. For anyone interested in China, and in particular the future of Communism, this volume will be essential reading.

The American position in trade and direct investment has not recovered from the large deficits incurred during the 1980s. Foreign investors expand their foothold in the United States economy daily and create the lion's share in the American trade deficit, while America's leadership in the global economy continues to decline. From U. S. Trade, Foreign Direct Investments, and Global Competitiveness, you'll derive an understanding of the position of the United States in the global market since the 1950s when it emerged as the world's largest trader and direct investor. You will also learn the new approaches that are necessary to adequately portray and measure structural changes in the world economy and the roles of the major players in this new environment.

Coming out of an established international graduate student conference organized by the East-West Center, this book presents selected papers written by graduate students from different fields of study. After identifying historical or contemporary issues in each field, these papers propose a framework for resolving these issues, whether through global commitment, regional cooperation, national policy, or local knowledge and practice. The unifying thread of this book is sustaining resilience in the Asia Pacific. We acknowledge this perseverance and try to sustain and disseminate it so that other communities may learn from these practices and experiences. Generally, a volume like this would address the challenge of this region from a security, economics or political perspective. This book hopes to add to the literature on resiliency by addressing these issues from a multidisciplinary and multilevel perspective.