The Broken Promise of Global Advocacy


Book Description

The Broken Promise of Global Advocacy addresses two key normative debates associated with the rise of transnational advocacy: whether global interest communities are biased in favor of wealthier countries; and whether the growth of global advocacy implies the emergence of a global civil society truly representative of global constituencies. The authors address these important debates using original data drawn from a large-scale project which maps all organized interests participating in two international venues: the World Trade Organizations Ministerial Conferences (1995–2017) and the United Nations Climate Summits (1997–2017). They leverage this unique dataset to carry out a systematic empirical assessment of contending views on the factors driving the rise of transnational advocacy. In doing so, the book demonstrates that cross-national differences in global interest representation largely mirror states’ economic power, and that global interest communities are likely to remain dominated by organizations representing national—rather than global—interests. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working in comparative politics, public policy, governance, international relations, and international political economy.




The Broken Promise of Global Advocacy


Book Description

The Broken Promise of Global Advocacy addresses two key normative debates associated with the rise of transnational advocacy: whether global interest communities are biased in favor of wealthier countries; and whether the growth of global advocacy implies the emergence of a global civil society truly representative of global constituencies. The authors address these important debates using original data drawn from a large-scale project which maps all organized interests participating in two international venues: the World Trade Organizations Ministerial Conferences (1995-2017) and the United Nations Climate Summits (1997-2017). They leverage this unique dataset to carry out a systematic empirical assessment of contending views on the factors driving the rise of transnational advocacy. In doing so, the book demonstrates that cross-national differences in global interest representation largely mirror states' economic power, and that global interest communities are likely to remain dominated by organizations representing national--rather than global--interests. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working in Comparative Politics, Public Policy, Governance, International Relations, and International Political Economy.




Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All


Book Description

Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All, published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF, presents the latest statistical evidence from administrative records and household surveys to better identify children who are out of school and the reasons for their exclusion from education. It aims to inform the policies needed to reach these children and finally deliver the promise of Education for All. Based on a series of national and regional studies and policy analysis by leading experts, the report explains why better data and cross-sector collaboration are fundamental to the design of effective interventions to overcome the barriers facing out-of-school children and adolescents. While highlighting the way forward for system-wide policies to improve educational quality and affordability, the report also presents the information needed for targeted approaches to address the compounding effects of disadvantage faced by children caught up in armed conflict, girls, working children, children with disabilities, or members of ethnic or linguistic minorities. This report presents a roadmap to improve the data, research and policies needed to catalyse action for out-of-school children as the world embarks on a new development agenda for education.




Handbook on Lobbying and Public Policy


Book Description

This uniquely comprehensive Handbook examines the complex relationship between lobbyists and public policy through an innovative multi-analytic lens. Emphasising the profound impact of the topic on modern government and contemporary societal issues, David Coen and Alexander Katsaitis bring together a wide range of experts to illuminate the contexts and processes involved in public policy, and how this interacts with the practice of lobbying.




Megatrends of World Politics


Book Description

Megatrends of World Politics identifies globalization, integration, and democratization as three key trends shaping the future of world politics and international relations, and demonstrates their effects in today’s global processes. The authors of this book discuss the essence of these three megatrends of world politics, describing their dynamic and non-linear development, and exploring how they manifest themselves. Assessing megatrends of world politics makes it possible to predict further global political development. The authors proceed from several assumptions: (1) megatrends are global – they operate everywhere around the globe, although with different intensity and in diverse forms; (2) they influence and sometimes generate a variety of other trends in today’s world politics; and (3) megatrends are political. The three megatrends — globalization, integration, and democratization — are identified and justified based on these three parameters, then the authors analyze the influence and manifestation of megatrends in various spheres of world politics, including terrorism, transregionalism, communication technologies, migration, pandemics, and subnational regions. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of international relations and adjacent fields who are studying the trajectories of global development, globalization, integration, and democratization.




International and Local Actors in Disaster Response


Book Description

International and Local Actors in Disaster Response uses the Beirut explosion in August 2020 to explore disaster prevention and response in developing states. Disasters, whether man-made or natural, have always tested governments and their bureaucracies. Despite numerous research efforts, existing empirical literature does not provide conclusive evidence on how multiple aspects of social infrastructure can simultaneously affect disaster preparedness and recovery, and what role the international community can have. This book analyzes the role of international and local organizations in responding to the disaster in Beirut and assesses the interorganizational collaboration between the public and private sectors following the explosion. The author develops a conceptual framework of government/non-profit relations in post-disaster management and examines the long-term disaster response and intervention of both international and local communities in a developing world context. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and researchers of disaster management and response, public administration, international relations, and the non-profit sector.




Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation


Book Description

Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation explores the opportunities and challenges for cooperation between Africa and Europe in the digital sphere. Digitalisation and digital technologies are not only essential for building competitive and dynamic economies; they transform societies, pose immense challenges for policymakers, and increasingly play a pivotal role in global power relations. Digital transformations have had catalytic effects on African and European governance, economies, and societies, and will continue to do so. The COVID-19 pandemic has already accelerated the penetration of digital tools all over the globe and is likely to be perceived as a critical juncture in how and to what purpose the world accepts and uses new and emerging technologies. This book offers a holistic analysis of how Africa and Europe can manage and harness digital transformation as partners in a globalised world. The authors shed light on issues ranging from economic growth, youth employment, and gender, to regulatory frameworks, business environments, entrepreneurship, and interest-driven power politics. They add much-needed perspectives to the debates that shape the two continents’ digital transformation and innovation environments. This book will interest practitioners working in the areas of innovation, digital technologies, and digital entrepreneurship, as well as students and scholars of international relations. It will also be relevant for policymakers, regulators, decision-makers, and leaders in Africa and Europe.




The Unheavenly Chorus


Book Description

Examining the current state of democracy in the United States, 'The Unheavenly Chorus' looks at the political participation of individual citizens - alongside the political advocacy of thousands of organized interests - in order to demonstrate that American democracy is marred by ingrained and persistent class-based inequality.




Communities in Action


Book Description

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.




Copyright's Broken Promise


Book Description

A comprehensive proposal for reforming copyright law to ensure sustainable public access to research and scholarship. Open access is widely supported by researchers, librarians, scholarly societies, and research funders, as well as large and small publishers. Yet despite this support—and the pandemic’s demonstration of the importance of open access for scientific progress—the scholarly publishing market is failing to deliver open access quickly enough. In Copyright’s Broken Promise, John Willinsky presents the case for reforming copyright law so that it supports, rather than impedes, public access to research and scholarship. He draws on the legal strategy of statutory licensing to set out the terms and structures by which the Copyright Act could ensure that publishers are fairly compensated for providing immediate open access. What sets Willinsky’s analysis apart is its focus on the current state of scholarly publishing. Because copyright offers so little legal support for moving publishing to open access, though it is best for science, he says it is time to stop regarding the Copyright Act as a law of nature that can only be circumvented, contravened, or temporarily set aside. Specifically, he proposes that the Copyright Act add a new category of work, called “research publications,” which would be subject to statutory licensing. This would allow publishers to receive royalty payments from the principal institutional users (universities, industry R&D, research institutes, and so on) and sponsors of the work (foundations and government agencies), while providing immediate open access.