Providing a unique and critical insight into some of the most significant issues affecting early years education, this book draws on current research, addresses key debates, and considers international perspectives. Topics covered include: policy making; poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion; promoting infant mental health; safeguarding and well-being; enhancing children's potential; parenting policies and skills; and national strategies versus professional autonomy.

This Technical Assistance Report discusses that in the Maldives, public investment trends have been influenced by a number of contextual factors including the economic dependency on tourism, the high exposure to climate change, and the recent democratization. The mission assessed the strength and quality of public investment management (PIM) in the Maldives using the IMF Public Investment Management framework, based on the three phases of the PIM cycle. The report highlights that the most significant weakness in the PIM and the wider Public Financial Management system is poor budget credibility and budget execution. However, some progress has been made in improving PIM institutions, and reforms are ongoing in a number of areas. It is imperative to strengthen the project appraisal process by developing a standard methodology for project appraisal, publishing this methodology and verifying that it is consistently applied by the line ministries. It is also important to develop a framework for ex-post evaluations and ensure that lessons learned from past projects are incorporated in revised guidelines and practices.

Meant primarily for students studying international relations, aspirants of civil services, International Relations Today: Concepts And Applications captures the drastic changes in international relations after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991. It also examines the rise of China as a major military and economic power, and the potential of Russia, India and Germany as tomorrow's big powers. It will also be useful for those interested in the discipline.

What makes murder, murder? How should we understand the difference between intentional and reckless killing? Should offenders be punished differently according to the perceived severity of their crime and when should they be excused? These questions are the topic of intense debate within legal circles and beyond in the UK, the US, and the rest of world. Jeremy Horder's role as the Law Commissioner for England and Wales on criminal law has given him unique insight into these questions and the debates surrounding them. Here he analyses the recent political and legal reform movements, offering a political history of homicide law reform from the 19th century to the modern era. Using homicide as a starting point, Horder raises deeper questions of who is and should be responsible for making and changing the law. What role should there be for expert bodies, judges, and politicians? What role should there be for the general public? These questions invoke strong emotional responses. Horder argues that comprehensive research into, and a degree of difference to, public opinion on the scope of homicide is essential to the reform process. It is essential principally as a means of conferring true legitimacy on homicide reform in a democracy. Elite or expert opinion alone will never authentically secure such legitimacy. Offering an insider's view into the processes of achieving law reform, Horder expresses criticism of a system that excludes the vast majority of people from consultation on reform of the laws that govern them.