One of the major objectives of good governance is human development. Many worry that without good governance, many developing countries may become failed states. Using one of the worst industrial disasters in Bangladesh to date, Haroon A. Khan helps further our understanding of the importance of bureaucratic capacity for achieving good governance and offers a new paradigm for a merit system to improve governance. In doing so, he introduces the reader to the concept of good governance and its importance by investigating its relationship with failed states, globalization, bureaucratic effectiveness, and human development. The Idea of Good Governance and the Politics of the Global South will be useful for the students interested in political science, public administration and international relations.

The political economy landscape has shifted as multinational corporations increase their investment efforts, changing the geographies of extraction. The contributors make the argument for the need of new theoretical perspectives anchored in critical political economy to address structural dynamics in the global industry.

Good governance is a prerequisite to development, improving the quality of life, and health and ensuring equity. This book examines the interdependency of good governance and economic development by exploring perspectives from the Global North and the Global South. It assesses the impact of good governance on economic development of countries such as the USA, India, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and others, and on groups of developing nations like BRICS or ASEAN. The book investigates the interrelationships between development indicators like education, health, gender equity, resource distribution, environmental preservation, quality of life, livelihood and others with governance and provides empirical verifications of the impact of good governance upon development. Further, it offers insights into the economic and governance challenges that developing countries face and highlights strategies for governance that have proved effective in bolstering sustainable growth. This volume will be of interest to students and researchers of economics, political science, social science, international relations, public administration and sociology.

Cities are centres of exciting events, flows, movements and contradictions that produce both opportunities and challenges. Evolved through the centuries, they display layers of spatial, cultural and socio-economic diversity and contestations, which are articulated in multiple ways. It is in this backdrop that the present volume addresses some of the myriad issues visible in the contemporary cities of the Global South. The volume is divided into three parts, each of them focusing on different dimension of contemporary urban challenges. Part I entitled ‘The Concept of a City’ contains five papers dealing with conceptual complexities of the urban. This part analyses as to what extent development intrudes on urban space and space in turn influences development. Part II ‘City and Urban Space’ contains six papers. These focus on the existing patterns, processes, and perspectives of urbanization and its consequent everyday manifestations across different cities. Part III ‘Urban Policy, Planning and Governance’ has six papers dealing with policy and planning. In the wake of rapid urbanization and economic growth, the urban sector is swiftly changing towards being economic engines. Cities and towns being the centres of economic activities play a catalytic role in contributing to economic development and poverty reduction. However, there are layers of challenges that these cities face. This timely volume brings out these challenges and also analyses plausible solutions which can be brought about by the efficient and effective provision of essential urban services and infrastructure. Please note: This title is co-published with Manohar Publishers, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Cities of the Global South Reader adopts a fresh and critical approach to the fi eld of urbanization in the developing world. The Reader incorporates both early and emerging debates about the diverse trajectories of urbanization processes in the context of the restructured global alignments in the last three decades. Emphasizing the historical legacies of colonialism, the Reader recognizes the entanglement of conditions and concepts often understood in binary relations: first/third worlds, wealth/poverty, development/underdevelopment, and inclusion/exclusion. By asking: “whose city? whose development?” the Reader rigorously highlights the fractures along lines of class, race, gender, and other socially and spatially constructed hierarchies in global South cities. The Reader’s thematic structure, where editorial introductions accompany selected texts, examines the issues and concerns that urban dwellers, planners, and policy makers face in the contemporary world. These include the urban economy, housing, basic services, infrastructure, the role of non-state civil society-based actors, planned interventions and contestations, the role of diaspora capital, the looming problem of adapting to climate change, and the increasing spectre of violence in a post 9/11 transnational world. The Cities of the Global South Reader pulls together a diverse set of readings from scholars across the world, some of which have been written specially for the volume, to provide an essential resource for a broad interdisciplinary readership at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in urban geography, urban sociology, and urban planning as well as disciplines related to international and development studies. Editorial commentaries that introduce the central issues for each theme summarize the state of the field and outline an associated bibliography. They will be of particular value for lecturers, students, and researchers, making the Cities of the Global South Reader a key text for those interested in understanding contemporary urbanization processes.

At a time of change in the international system, this book examines how non-traditional leading nations from the Global South have fared to date and what the chances are of their rise to continue. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the enthusiasm of observers of the international scene about the “rise of the rest” is waning as many countries that were expected to lead the evolving multipolar order are experiencing economic contraction and governance problems. In order to predict further developments, the contributors to this volume focus on the types and sources of the diplomatic strategies that must be executed by rising states if they are to preserve domestic advances as well as gain influence regionally and internationally. Through a comprehensive examination of case studies from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, they show that while there are commonalities among these rising states, unique domestic conditions, values, and traditions impact and predict diplomatic strategizing and the ability for sustained projection on the international scene.

For four decades the UN has attempted to foster development in the countries of the global south. The book provides a synopsis of these efforts, from the Brandt Commission Report to Boutros Boutros Ghali's Agenda for Development. Prof. Milkias presents opposing arguments in allotting responsibility for the growing gap between the North and the South and details the Millennium Development Goals and assesses their successes and failures so far. He provides suggestions for closing the gap, for removing the debt burden that is currently crushing the nations of the South, and for relieving the poverty, ignorance and disease that plague so much of humanity

This book scrutinizes the frequently ignored agency of Global South sub-national actors in their interactions with China, using a multidisciplinary approach and eleven case studies. Contributors examine China’s presence in the Global South on a country-by-country basis, analyzing how various non-state and sub-state actors are responding to the rise of China and whether they are attracted by the cooperation models that China proposes or deterred by its new assertiveness. Contributions cover diverse and heterogeneous geographies of the Global South, ranging from Papua-New Guinea to Argentina and from Madagascar to the Russian Far East. Examining such diverse cases, contributors focus on two interrelated questions: What is the actual economic, political, and social impact of China’s growing presence in the Global South? And, critically, how do the citizens of the Global South understand and interpret China’s rise? Taken together, the case studies develop a comprehensive picture of a complex and sometimes problematic process of China’s inclusion into the economic, social, and political realities of the Global South. This book identifies and fills the gaps in the existing literature on China’s rise by offering a nuanced perspective on China’s relations with the countries of the Global South that captures such variables as social context, intersubjective meanings, and identities. By focusing China’s relations with the Global South, it also provides an important addition to the literature on international politics of development and China’s role in the transformation of the South-South cooperation.

This book is a comprehensive reference for conducting political analyses of emerging welfare systems in the Global South. It places a central emphasis on decolonizing social policy literature by developing empirically grounded theories and concepts illuminating societies in both the Global South and North. These case studies contribute to theoretical generalizations capable of explaining universal principles that are relevant to both the Global South and North.

Geographies of Developing Areas is a thought provoking and accessible introductory text, presenting a fresh view of the Global South that challenges students' pre-conceptions and promotes lively debate. Rather than presenting the Global South as a set of problems, from rapid urbanization to poverty, this book focuses on the diversity of life in the South, and looks at the role the South plays in shaping and responding to current global change. The core contents of the book integrate 'traditional' concerns of development geographers, such as economic development and social inequality, with aspects of the global South that are usually given less attention, such as cultural identity and political conflict. This edition has been fully updated to reflect recent changes in the field and highlight issues of security, risk and violence; environmental sustainability and climate change; and the impact of ICT on patterns of North-South and South-South exchange. It also challenges students to think about how space is important in both the directions and the outcomes of change in the Global South, emphasizing the inherently spatial nature of political, economic and socio-cultural processes. Students are introduced to the Global South via contemporary debates in development and current research in cultural, economic and political geographies of developing areas. The textbook consider how images of the so-called 'Third World' are powerful, but problematic. It explores the economic, political and cultural processes shaping the South at the global scale and the impact that these have on people's lives and identities. Finally, the text considers the possibilities and limitations of different development strategies. The main arguments of the book are richly illustrated through case study material drawn from across the Global South as well as full colour figures and photos. Students are supported throughout with clear examples, explanations of key terms, ideas and debates, and introductions to the wider literature and relevant websites in the field. The pedagogical features of the book have been further developed through discussion questions and activities that provide focused tasks for students' research, including investigation based around the book's case studies, and in-depth exploration of debates and concepts it introduces.