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Posted 92 days ago by Super Admin / Tags: immigration, transnationality, transnationalization, transnationalism, transborder, globalization, remittances, hybridity / 0 Comments
Increasing interconnections between nation-states across borders have made the transnational perspective a key tool for understanding our world.
Transnational Migration provides an accessible yet rigorous overview of cross-border migration from a transnational perspective, as experienced by family and kinship groups, networks of entrepreneurs, diasporas, and immigrant associations – and as regulated by states.
We define the core concepts of transnationalization, transnational social spaces and transnationality, In particular, transnationality connotes the social practices of agents – individuals, groups, communities and organizations – across the borders of nation-states. The term denotes a spectrum of cross-border ties in various spheres of social life – familial, socio-cultural, economic and political – ranging from travel, through sending financial remittances, to exchanging ideas.
Seen in this way, agents’ transnational ties constitute a marker of heterogeneity, akin to other heterogeneities, such as age, gender, citizenship, sexual orientation, cultural preferences and language use.
In short, transnational ties can be understood as occupying a continuum from low to high – that is, from very few and short-lived ties to those that are multiple and dense and continuous over time.
For example, migrants may remit varying sums of money or none at all. This is also to say that, for our purposes, migrants and non-migrants should not be considered simply as transnational or not, but as being transnational to different degrees.
Transnationality is characterized by transactions of varying degrees of intensity and at various stages of the life course; it is not restricted to geographical mobility. For example, non-mobile family members of migrants may engage in transnational practices.
Based on this typology of the transnational, we describe everyday transnational life, explore the implications for immigrant incorporation, and take a fresh look at issues of membership and citizenship. By examining the political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of transnational migration, we seek to capture the distinctive features of the new immigrant communities that have reshaped the ethno-cultural mix of receiving nations, including the US and Western Europe.
We give equal importance to examining the effects of transnationality on regions of migrants’ origin, viewing migrants as agents of political and economic development.
In doing so, we aim to balance theoretical discussion with relevant examples and cases, making it an ideal book for upper-level students working on immigration and transnational relations, in sociology, political science, and globalization courses.
Thomas Faist is professor of transnational, development and migration studies at the Bielefeld University, Germany.
Margit Fauser is a researcher in the department of sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany.
Eveline Reisenauer is a researcher in the department of sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany.
Posted 469 days ago by Super Admin / Tags: development, International Relations, global inequality, poverty, population growth, sustainability, conflict, security, foreign aid, world trade, globalization / 0 Comments
The primary motivation for writing Understanding Development was to take stock of where development is today. It seemed to me that this was an issue that had received insufficient attention and needed to be addressed, especially in the context of globalisation and environmental decline. Indeed, many works that have been written on development seem to play down or simply neglect the importance of context.
Exploring the condition of development required examining many of the key areas that have come to define the subject, including foreign aid, debt, gender, education, health, participation, and trade.
In particular, the book addresses many of the challenges facing development, notably climate change, increasingly complex patterns of global poverty and inequality, a global economic crisis, escalating world population growth, the growth in the number of fragile states, and the rise of new centres of global power. In the case of the latter, for example, the rapid economic growth of some countries in the developing world is encouraging their call for greater influence within international development institutions.
At the same time development continues to attract criticism, ranging from post-development writers dismissing it as a Western project through to politicians questioning the effectiveness and necessity of aid. Furthermore, many of the UN Millennium Development Goals look unlikely to be achieved by 2015.
Based on this investigation I do not seek to claim that development is in crisis, nevertheless it is arguably at a historic juncture. For instance, the planet’s eco-systems will simply not be able to sustain the model of development hitherto pursued in the West, especially its level of consumption.
In addition, there is a lack of consensus amongst those working within development about how to achieve it and what it should entail, evident in competing development theories and strategies. Moreover, some commentators are detecting what has been termed ‘aid fatigue’, but also a sense that development may be running out of steam in the light of the disappointments and controversies that continue to surround it.
All of this does not mean that we should give up on development. In spite of the criticism, and the power politics that continues to envelop it, development retains a moral purpose in the sense of trying to improve people’s lives. Development is also an evolving and reflexive discourse, something that is reflected in new areas becoming more prominent in the recent period, such as sustainability, conflict and security, and information and communication technologies.
In undertaking this investigation, the book highlights the contested and plural nature of development. It shows how it has evolved, the extent to which the different aspects of development are interdependent, and why studying it requires an interdisciplinary approach as well as taking into account contemporary globalizing processes.
Paul Hopper is Senior Lecturer in Humanities at the University of Brighton.
Posted 640 days ago by Super Admin / Tags: gender, inequality, globalization, marginalization, social theory, education / 0 Comments
A world out of control? A world of ruthless elites, environmental disaster, reborn patriarchy, and growing gaps between rich and poor? A world where the alternatives are riot, terrorism, or futile protest? Our world, right?
If that is NOT to be our world - if we want real democracy in rich countries as well as poor - we need new strategies of social change, and knowledge to base them on. Confronting Equality shows how social science provides knowledge and ideas vital for democratic politics. Its chapters discuss men’s role in achieving gender equality, the social impact of neoliberalism, the new politics of teaching, key theorists of global society, and more.
Social science matters. Reliable knowledge matters. Much social research is presented in conservative, dependent, or depressing ways. But social science can be a site of excitement and insight, and a way of opening new perspectives on the world.
Raewyn Connell is university professor at the University of Sydney and the author of numerous books, including Confronting Equality, Gender, and Southern Theory.
Posted 723 days ago by Super Admin / Tags: governance, politics, Regulation, globalization / 0 Comments
From climate change to organized crime to financial regulation through to global pandemics, many of the gravest problems society faces today cannot be resolved by any country acting alone. Globalization has created a world of “complex interdependence” in which cooperation across borders is required to provide the security, prosperity, and wellbeing on which we all depend.
Traditionally, transborder cooperation has been negotiated between nation-states. In the aftermath of the Second World War, states created a range of intergovernmental institutions—the international financial institutions, t
he trade regime, and above all the United Nations—that have become the core of our current multilateral order.
Fascinatingly, however, these traditional institutions are being joined by an increasing range of new forms of global governance. For example, transgovernmental networks link ostensibly domestic government officials into flexible platforms for coordination and information exchange. Private regulatory schemes hold corporations responsible for environmental and social standards. Diverse coalitions of actors—states, corporations, NGOs, and others—form multistakeholder initiatives for topics as diverse as disease prevention and the management of the Internet. We live in a period of remarkable innovation in global governance.
Scholars and practitioners have recognized these changes, which pervade nearly every area of global politics, but have yet to fully describe or explain them. We need to know what has changed, why it has changed, and what implications the changes hold for the political issues that affect our societies. A first step toward answering these crucial questions—until now missing from the literature—would be a comprehensive mapping of the new institutions. This is what the Handbook of Transnational Governance hopes to contribute. In it, we have gathered over 50 expert summaries of innovative forms of global governance which, together, provide the most complete picture of the new forms of governance that yet exists. We hope this resource will help students, scholars, and practitioners to better understand the changing institutional landscape that increasingly shapes every aspect of political life.
Thomas Hale is a PhD candidate at Princeton University. David Held is Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Their new book, Handbook of Transnational Governance, is out now.
Posted 751 days ago by Super Admin / Tags: media studies, globalization, European studies / 0 Comments
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the contemporary media field in Europe. It examines the current structure of the various sectors that make up the European media market (broadcasting, the press, the internet), and identifies and assesses the major players and issues. It covers a broad spread of media markets, highlighting the new sectors that are emerging and outlining the factors driving the media business into the 21st century.
One of the key arguments of European Media is that Europe continues to offer the best place for examining global media processes. In doing so, the book
a) describes the issues, dynamics and the realities of the European media sector by synthesizing the most up-to-date information on developments;
b) asks whether we are seeing the emergence of European media or simply the continuation of separate national media in a European context;
c) explores debates about the role of the media in the formation of a European public sphere and a European identity.
The book is divided into three sections. The first deals with the structure of the European media, the second with the Europeanization of the media, and the third with the political and cultural dimensions of Europe and the EU.
Each of these sections provides material that will be of interest and value to both students and researchers seeking to explore the nature of the media in Europe.
Ralph M. Negrine is professor of political communication at the University of Sheffield, and co-author of European Media.
