This handbook addresses the historical background of the Islamic world and reviews its basic past intellectual achievements. It studies social progress of these regions and sub-regions in comparison with other parts of the world. It uses large data sets and well established statistically weighted Indexes in order to assess the nature and pace of the multiple facets of social change in member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The handbook extensively discusses the main challenges confronting the Islamic nations in the social, economic, political, and ideological fields. Though it is recognizable that social change in the Islamic World is generally positive, it remains highly variable in pace and there is room to speed it up to the benefit of millions of deprived Muslim people. Hence, the book studies the different propositions and programs of action, such as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Campaign and the OIC’s Ten-Year Programme of Action to present an integrated and comprehensive agenda of action to help improve the situation in the Islamic World.

This volume looks at positive psychology from a culturally-responsive, empirically-driven perspective to avoid a descent into pseudoscience. Through evidence-based, regionally relevant topics in the field of well-being, this volume shows how increasing levels of excellence in the GCC region enhance upon business, education, research, and social innovations. Grounded in the empirical research literature, each chapter applies psychological concepts to locally relevant considerations, such as culture, religion, and socio-political contexts, making this book an essential tool for understanding positive psychology and well-being in the GCC nations and beyond.

This book presents a comprehensive view of the state of social progress worldwide over an entire 50-year period beginning 1970. It discusses original time-series research for the period 1970-2018 as well as contemporary trends in quality of life and well-being research for the period since 2018, and provides innovative research findings into the nature, history, and status of 160 of the world’s economically advanced and developing nations. Among the topics included are discussion of the worldwide development trends occurring with especially vulnerable population groups, such as children and youth, the elderly, women, persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, and economic migrants. Further, this book reports social indicator trends at four unit of analysis: individuals, nations, world regions, and for the world-as-a-whole.

This book focuses on the drivers of Jihadist terrorism and explains how a better understanding of these drivers can lead to more effective counterterrorism policies all over the world. It builds on results of the extensive body of quality of life studies to document the historical, geo-political, economic, religious, cultural and media drivers of Jihadist terrorism. Guided by a major theme this book shows that the significant gains we have made in combatting Jihadist terrorism are not enough, but that we need to embrace a much broader and comprehensive view of the antecedents and the sustaining enablers of this threat to help guide any sustainable efforts. It proposes interventions designed to effectively treat the causes of this insidious disease. This book is of great interest to new media, policy makers concerned about national security as well as people and academic scholars whose research interest involves conflict and conflict resolution, religious studies, terrorism and counterterrorism, Islamic history, and Islamic geo-politics.

This handbook discusses the latest findings from different fields of positive psychology from a global perspective by providing a coherent framework to get a better understanding of the development and practice of positive psychology. It starts with the parameters of positive psychology and a summary of the historical rise of positive psychology (both first wave and second wave of positive psychology) in the US, and its slow but steady growth on a global scale. This handbook highlights the major contributions of positive psychologists across 17 major regions of the world on theory, research, assessment and Practice. It discusses how positive psychology can progress human living in different countries and it shows the reasons why positive psychology has become an important source in research and education around the world.

Hope is a complex concept—one academics use to accept the unknown while also expressing optimism. However, it can also be an action-oriented framework with measurable outcomes. In Education Transformation in Muslim Societies, scholars from around the world offer a wealth of perspectives for incorporating hope in the education of students from kindergarten through university to stimulate change, dialogue, and transformation in their communities. For instance, though progress has been made in Muslim societies on early education and girls' enrollment, it is not well documented. By examining effective educational initiatives and analyzing how they work, educators, policymakers, and government officials can create a catalyst for positive educational reform and transformation. Adopting strength-based educational discourse, contributors to Education Transformation in Muslim Societies reveal how critical the whole-person approach is for enriching the brain and the spirit and instilling hope back into the teaching and learning spaces of many Muslim societies and communities. Education Transformation in Muslim Societies is a copub with the International Institute of Islamic Thought.

This handbook informs the reader about how much progress we, the human race, have made in enhancing the quality of life on this planet. Many skeptics focus on how the quality of life has deteriorated over the course of human history, particularly given World War II and its aftermath. This handbook provides a positive perspective on the history of well-being. Quality of life, as documented by scientists worldwide, has significantly improved. Nevertheless, one sees more improvements in well-being in some regions of the world than in others. Why? This handbook documents the progress of well-being in the various world regions as well as the differences in those regions. The broad questions that the handbook addresses include: What does well-being mean? How do different philosophical and religious traditions interpret the concept of well-being within their own context? Has well-being remained the same over different historical epochs and for different regions and subregions of the world? In which areas of human development have we been most successful in advancing individual and collective well-being? In which sectors has the attainment of well-being proven most difficult? How does well-being differ within and between different populations groups that, for a variety of socially created reasons, have been the most disadvantaged (e.g., children, the aged, women, the poor, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities)?

This book addresses the challenges threatening the quality of life and well-being of people living in the MENA region. It focuses on both internal / local and external / global drivers impacting their well-being particularly in the domains of economy, health, and education. Additionally, it presents a critical analysis to help readers understand the position that the MENA countries currently occupy in the world. Lastly, it provides policy analysts and decision makers with otherwise hard to obtain data and information related to socio-economic, cultural, demographic, technological, and political factors that have influenced the quality of life there.

"What is development? Who defines that one community/ country is "developed", while another community/ country is "under-developed"? What is the relationship between religion and development? Does religion contribute to development or underdevelopment in Africa? These and related questions elicit quite charged reactions in African studies, development studies, political science and related fields. Africa's own history, including the memory of marginalisation, slavery and exploitation by global powers ensures that virtually every discussion on development is characterised by a lot of emotions and conflicting views. In this volume scholars from various African countries and many different religions and denominations contribute to this debate."--

Media and research tend to focus on social problems in today's world - from terrorism and natural disasters to environmental degradation, conflict and economic decline. Yet many countries are also placing the promotion of well-being central at the heart of their social agenda. So what can we say about human progress and the development of civilization? This book considers the brighter side of our world today by exploring the ways in which wellbeing is on an upward swing globally. Systematically considering indicators of human well-being in terms of economics, health and education, alongside subjective notions of wellbeing, the book draws together research and data from around the world. It uses the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index as an underlying framework from which to examine the ways in which wellbeing has improved since WWII. Analysing leading scholarship and empirical work aloows the authors to determine policy recommendations for how we might continue to build a better world of human wellbeing.