Search results for ""agenda publishing""
Agenda Publishing An Economic History of Europe Since 1700
Vera Zamagni charts the remarkable story of European economic growth from the birth of industrialization through to the present day. Setting European events within the wider context of world economic progress and alongside developments in Asia, Eastern Europe and the United States, she provides an up-to-date and authoritative survey suitable for course use. The book begins with an outline of the economic landscape of the late Middle Ages before exploring the process of European industrialization, including how the British model was replicated across Europe, and why Britain was unable to maintain its position relative to other economies, in particular the United States. The advent of global finance is examined and the economic impact of world war and revolution is assessed. European reconstruction and integration is analysed alongside the decline of Russia and the growth of the Asian economies. The book ends with an assessment of the impact of the global crash of 2008 and the subsequent crisis of the Eurozone. Throughout her analysis, Zamagni shows how the social and economic institutions and values of European civilization catalyzed economic progress. That these same structures are now threatened makes this history particularly timely.
£35.52
Agenda Publishing Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat
As a top 20 global economy and tech powerhouse, a liberal democracy on the frontline of autocratic pressure and a pivotal component in the free and open Indo-Pacific, the future security of Taiwan has enormous ramifications for today’s global order. Jonathan Sullivan and Lev Nachman consider Taiwan’s complex and multi-layered history and the many dimensions it holds in international politics. They show that an appreciation of its critical role in geopolitics is more than just the crude dichotomies of “democracy vs authoritarianism” or “independence vs unification”. Its history and future are intimately tied to wider questions of decolonialism, national identity, economic interdependence, multiculturalism and modern values – all set against an ever-present security threat.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business
Matters of ideology and security have become deeply entwined in China’s economic and business environment. The context is more politicized, more uncertain. At the heart of Xiconomics is the Dual Circulation Strategy, which marks out clear dividing lines between China’s domestic economy and the rest of the world. It sets out how China seeks to manage the links between the two just when western countries are also focusing on decoupling and "friendshoring". In order to prosper, business leaders and policy-makers need to understand these new international dynamics. In this concise and incisive analysis, Andrew Cainey and Christiane Prange explain what is happening in China and how this affects its relations with other countries. They identify what foreign companies need to do, how strategies need to change, and what this all means for managing the China business as part of a global portfolio, under a range of geopolitical scenarios.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher, prime minister between 1979 and 1990, was and continues to be a hugely divisive figure in Britain. Her influence on British politics has long outlived her, with the Conservative Party becoming steadily more Thatcherite than it was under her leadership, especially on economic issues. Policies that support privatization, curbs on trade unions and employment rights (to promote further labour market flexibility), reduction in welfare provision, the replacement of collectivism with individualism, and the marketization of public services, including the NHS and education, are all Thatcherism in practice, and still continue today. Peter Dorey offers a lively analysis of how Thatcherism became an ideology for politics to conjure with, its relationship with its eponymous leader and with the Conservative Party, as well as the long-term implications for the British people. He argues that the radical modernization of Britain that started under Thatcher’s leadership in the 1980s has created the conditions that have led to the polarization of British society today; a process that was profoundly unconservative in its values and approach, destabilizing institutions which Conservatives once deemed sacrosanct, and replacing continuity and solidity with constant change and competition.
£20.04
Agenda Publishing Inside the Deal: How the EU Got Brexit Done
As a close aide to Michel Barnier, Stefaan De Rynck had a front row seat in the Brexit negotiations. In this frank and uncompromising account, De Rynck tells the EU’s side of the story and seeks to dispel some of the myths and spin that have become indelibly linked to the Brexit process. From the mood in the room to the technical discussions, he gives an unvarnished account of the deliberations and obstacles that shaped the final deal. De Rynck demonstrates how the EU-27’s unity held firm throughout, while the UK vacillated, changed negotiators, changed prime ministers and changed their aims and tactics. Attempts by the UK to run down the clock and issue ultimatums to force the EU to acquiesce are shown to have had no effect on the course of events. Instead Barnier’s team was successful in protecting EU interests, in fulfilling the mandate defined by 27 national governments while still agreeing different forms of Brexit with two UK prime ministers. For the EU, Brexit was not, as some UK commentators and politicians liked to portray it, a fight with the UK. It was a fight to get a deal that worked for the EU.
£25.31
Agenda Publishing Poverty and the World Order: The Mirage of SDG 1
Robert Walker provides a critical examination of the promise and reality of SDG1, the United Nations’ Social Development Goal designed, among other things, to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. The author’s message is stark: there is little chance of success. Although the need for a collective and coordinated response is clear, global and national systems of governance are currently incapable of an adequate response. While the critique is formidable, the book seeks to identify reforms necessary to meaningfully increase the likelihood of meeting SDG1’s goals. These include reshaping international institutions so that they give greater voice to governments in the developing world, facilitating enhanced modes of participatory governance, and increasing democratic accountability at a global level. Evidence is drawn throughout from a systematic review of international best practice supplemented by more detailed strategic case-studies, including from China.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Global Health: Geographical Connections
Drawing on the latest research in health geography and a wide range of case studies from across the world, this comprehensive and authoritative study offers students an unrivalled analysis of the geographical connections of global health and the challenges they present for governance and treatment. Topics considered include health inequalities across countries, the governance of health by nation-states and international organizations, the incidence and spread of infectious disease, the links between air and water quality and health outcomes, and the health impacts of climate change. The book considers how these different issues play out in a range of geographical settings across the world, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionally affected. The book demonstrates the indispensable role of geographical processes operating across borders in understanding health worldwide and is an excellent resource for courses on health geography, global health, public health and development studies.
£27.05
Agenda Publishing The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities
Cities are synonymous with the production and consumption of culture. It is their material and human cultural infrastructure that also makes them archives and works of art. The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities critically re-examines the relationship between the urban and its cultures. It expands our understanding of the concept of urban cultural infrastructure and highlights the foundational role of culture to the materiality and sociality of urban life and the governance of cities. The book begins with a theoretical overview of the cultural and infrastructural turns in urban studies scholarship. It then explores definitions of cultural infrastructure and its “hard” and “soft” dimensions before critically considering the vulnerabilities generated in the cultural sector by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chapters are organised in four thematic sections focusing on aspects of producing, performing, consuming and collecting culture, which feature detailed case studies from 17 cities across the global North and South. This book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of urban studies, but also to policy-makers planning and creating cultural infrastructures as well as those working in cultural institutions and creative industries.
£29.99
Agenda Publishing Resilient Welfare States in the European Union
The European welfare systems, established after the Second World War, have been under sustained attack since the late 1970s from the neoliberal drive towards a small state and from the market as the foremost instrument for the efficient allocation of scarce resources. After the 2008 financial crash, Europe’s high tax and generous benefits welfare states were, once again, blamed for economic stagnation and political immobilism. If anything, however, the long decade of the Great Recession proved that the welfare state remained a fundamental asset in hard times, stabilizing the economy, protecting households and individuals from poverty, reconciling gendered work and family life, while improving the skills and competences needed in Europe’s knowledge economy and ageing society. Finally, the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has, unsuprisingly, brought back into the limelight the productive role of welfare systems in guaranteeing basic security, human capabilities, economic opportunities, and democratic freedoms. In this important contribution, Anton Hemerijck and Robin Huguenot-Noël examine the nature of European welfare provision and the untruths that surround it. They evaluate the impact of the austerity measures that followed the Great Recession, and consider its future design to better equip European societies to face social change, from global competition to accelerated demographic ageing, the digitalization of work and climate change.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Disease
In 1942 life expectancy at birth was 66 for women and 60 for men. Death was usually due to degenerative and infectious diseases. The greatest postwar success in the fight against disease was the establishment of the NHS and care that was free at the point of delivery. Life expectancy rose dramatically, but since 2011 incremental improvements have stalled and even, in some regions, begun to reverse. Infant mortality rates have crept up and the postcode lottery of health provision underscores the level of social inequality in the UK. Good health is not simply the absence of disease. It is the collective of physical, social and mental well-being. It is the product of nutrition and genetics, of healthy lifestyles and preventative health interventions. It is the interaction between the conditions in which we live, work, play and age. Yet access to many of the things that make and keep us healthy are not evenly distributed in the population. Achieving good health is then deeply entwined with all aspects of society and cannot simply be solved by policies in one area alone. In our rediscovery of Beveridge, the shadow of the pandemic looms large. It is has never been more urgent to address the underlying causes of Disease. And it has never been clearer that these determinants are not only social or physiological, but also political.
£18.28
Agenda Publishing Ignorance
As a universal experience school provokes strongly-held opinions. The views of teachers, parents, pupils compete with those of educational theorists, social engineers and ideologues. Although undoubtedly much improved since the time of Beveridge, the provision of education remains beset with challenges. Sally Tomlinson’s engaging, and at times personal, journey through Britain’s postwar experience of schooling and education reform draws on her many years of working in the sector. She explains how legacies of different systems and countless policy initiatives have led to the persistence of social inequalities, entrenching them in society and perpetuated by the power dynamics that they create between class, race and gender. Furthermore, she shows how the increasing mania for testing, targets, choice and competition, which has made schools into a marketplace and young people into consumers, threatens to undermine schools as a place where citizens can share learning and the democratic values that are needed as much today as they were in Beveridge’s time.
£18.28
Agenda Publishing China's Hong Kong: The Politics of a Global City
In 1997, Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China under the “one country, two systems” framework. In this new edition, Tim Summers brings his analysis of the politics of Hong Kong fully up to date and discusses the ramifications for the city of the mass demonstrations of 2019–20 and the city’s intensifying confrontational politics that have culminated in China’s new national security law for Hong Kong. In the process, Hong Kong has lost the sweet spot it occupied for four decades in a world of intensifying economic globalization and decent US–China relations, all the more so after Covid-19. Instead it finds itself at the frontline of US–China strategic rivalry. Summers explores how the city’s future will be shaped by the interaction of these global tensions with Hong Kong’s polarized local politics and its relationship with Beijing.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK: From Productivity Problems to Development Dilemmas
Does the UK still have an industrial strategy? How should we understand the renewed interest within government in industrial policy – and now its apparent reversal – in recent years? This collection of essay by leading academics and practitioners including Victoria Chick, Kate Bell, Simon Lee, Karel Williams, Susan Himmelweit, Laurie Macfarlane and Ron Martin – among many others– considers the effectiveness of recent industrial policies in addressing the UK’s economic malaise. In offering a broad political economy perspective on economic statecraft and development in the UK, the book focuses on the political and institutional foundations of industrial policy, the value of "foundational" economic practices, the challenge of greening capitalism and addressing regional inequalities, and the new financial and corporate governance structures required to radicalize industrial strategy.
£29.99
Agenda Publishing The Return of the State: Restructuring Britain for the Common Good
Pushed by the Covid-19 crisis, the UK government has borrowed massively to save jobs, businesses and the economy from collapse, making a mockery of the austerity policies that it had championed for a decade. As a result, the role of the state is now in sharp focus. The contributors to this volume assess what that role should be and how it should be harnessed for the good of the British people in all four of its nations. Together they present policy proposals capable of generating a new social settlement and a long-term, equitable economic recovery post-pandemic. It offers both a vision of a future Britain and a roadmap to getting there.
£19.99
Agenda Publishing London
As one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, London has become a mass generator of employment and a magnet for inward migration. Yet London is also a divided city, whose expansion has generated many planning challenges. This book explores the tensions, complexities and difficulties in mobilizing policy agendas in London, but it also argues that public policy still matters and makes a significant difference to outcomes. The authors show how the market-led development of London has meant that the state supports more private-sector-led governance and this has given rise to widespread privatization of the city’s decision-making processes and policy implementation. As a key command and control centre in the global economy, London’s privatized model has become one for other megacities to emulate.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing The Mexican Economy
Mexico is the sixteenth largest economy in the world and Latin America’s biggest exporter and importer. Despite the country’s relative macroeconomic stability, there are two Mexicos: one more prosperous, advanced and modern, the other poor, isolated and disadvantaged, and this polarization characterizes much of the country’s recent economic development. Enrique Cárdenas provides a concise survey of Mexico’s recent economic history and examines its attempts to address the economic challenges thrown up by regional disparities, low productivity and an export-fuelled economy overwhelmingly dependent on demand from its largest neighbour. The book investigates the relative robustness of the macroeconomic fundamentals alongside specific industry-level economic trends, especially those sectors dependent on free trade agreements. Demographic trends, in particular migration to the north, urbanization, poor labour relations, organized crime and entrenched corruption are all shown to have impacted the economic path Mexico has taken. The book offers an up-to-date analysis of Mexico’s economic development, social reform programmes and political economy suitable for a range of courses in Latin American studies and development studies.
£23.54
Agenda Publishing Paris
Alongside New York and London, Paris is one of the world’s earliest megacities. Its growth and character have been fashioned by a distinctive mix of policies that separate it from other long-time megacities as well as the fast-growing urban centres of the Global South. Christian Lefèvre examines the social and economic forces that have shaped Paris and which have made it the city it is today. He charts the impact of global trends, such as the shift from industry to service and information sectors, as well as regional factors, especially those arising from Paris’s unique system of governance. The book examines the central role the national government has played in policies affecting the city and explores how the shift towards political decentralization and localism has contributed to a system increasingly incapable of taking collective action. This tension is shown to have impacted the city’s provision of services, particularly housing, and promoted inequalities within the city and its region. Paris’s unrivalled national dominance is also examined alongside its weaker position as a global city. The book is an authoritative analysis of the evolution of modern Paris and the challenges that face its governance and future development.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Freeing Trade in North America
Conceived in an era of rapid post-Cold War economic liberalization, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed in 1994, brought together Canada, Mexico and the United States with the aim of creating a regional trade bloc that eliminated the friction and costs of trade between the three nations. Without an overarching institutional framework, NAFTA never sought to attain the levels of integration achieved by the European Union – for many it was a missed opportunity – and never quite fulfilled its potential as a single market. And under Trump’s administration a trilateral trade agreement has become increasingly precarious. This book provides an overview of NAFTA and its successor the USCMA, explaining the theory behind the politics and economics of trade in North America. It offers an accessible and concise analysis of the key provisions, shortcomings and past revision efforts of the governments involved. At a time of increasing protectionism and heightened awareness of trading relationships, the book highlights the lessons to be learnt from the fraught history of one of the largest trade blocs in the world.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing A Modern Migration Theory: An Alternative Economic Approach to Failed EU Policy
Current migration policy is based on a seemingly neutral accounting exercise, in which migrants contribute less in tax than they receive in welfare assistance. A “fact” that justifies increasingly restrictive asylum policies. Peo Hansen shows that this consensual cost-perspective on migration is built on a flawed economic conception of the orthodox “sound finance” doctrine prevalent in migration research and policy. By examining migration through the macroeconomic lens offered by modern monetary theory, Hansen is able to demonstrate sound finance’s detrimental impact on migration policy and research, including its role in stoking the toxic debate on migration in the European Union. More importantly, Hansen’s undertaking offers the tools with which both migration research and migration policy could be modernized and put on a realistic footing.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing The Gig Economy
The “gig economy” is a relatively recent term coined to describe a range of working arrangements that have previously been denoted as precarious, flexible and contingent. These may include casual workers, temporary agency workers, those on zero-hours contracts and dependent contractors. This books seeks to get behind the contemporary buzz surrounding the term and provide some theoretical and empirical analysis of the gig work phenomenon. The book seeks to assess more critically some of the rhetorical claims made about gig work and to provide a balanced appraisal of the ramifications for individuals, employers and the economy and society in general of an increasingly insecure workforce. The regulatory framework, in particular, is examined and is shown to have lagged behind crucial developments in the gig economy, with many labour laws still historically rooted to the notion that a worker has to be an employee to be covered by employment rights. The authors show that in many respects there is nothing new about the gig economy and that its growth in recent years was in some sense predictable. Perhaps its real significance, they argue, is its potential as a business model to “gig-ize” other business operations far beyond relatively low-skilled work. When combined with automation and digitalization, the gig economy presents us with an opportunity to re-evalute our understanding of the nature of work.
£17.99
Agenda Publishing Foul Play
Football has an integrity problem. Whether it is the reckless behaviour of players on or off the pitch, television commentators bad-mouthing decisions during the game, or the corrupt governance of the sport, football has a tarnished reputation. Dan Hough analyses why this is and how to tackle it.
£20.04
Agenda Publishing Pessimism Quietism and Nature as Refuge
£20.04
Agenda Publishing The Urban Field
£29.99
Agenda Publishing The Urban Field
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Italian Economy
The world's eighth largest economy has a unique shape and structure. Characterized by strong social networks and a niche capitalism built on successful small and medium-sized enterprises, the Italian economy has a nature distinct from its European neighbours. Vera Zamagni charts Italy's recent economic history from the postwar years of reconstruction through to the present day and the legacy of the financial crisis. Combining illustrative data with qualitative analysis, she provides a clear and rigorous presentation of the main features of the country's economy. The country's regional imbalances, political instability and corruption are situated alongside its strengths in social capital, its flourishing industrial districts and its high ranking in well-being indicators. Throughout, the contours of a much longer history are shown to have shaped the contemporary economy as much as recent trends, such as migration. The book provides a concise survey suitable for a range of introductory readerships seeking to understand the nature of recent Italian economic performance.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Economics of Cars
The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. It embodies the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of societies, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and acts as a national barometer of economic success and failure. This book explains how the car industry works and analyses the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years – factories have closed, jobs have gone and brands and manufacturers have disappeared – yet world production has never been higher, reaching new peaks annually. The authors investigate how western and Japanese manufacturers still dominate the market, despite the challenge posed by Korean, Chinese and Indian competitors. They examine how changing environmental policies and consumer preferences are moving the industry towards electric vehicles; how usage patterns are evolving, favouring car-sharing; and how advances in electronics and digitalization are set to further reshape the sector with autonomous and self-driving vehicles. The book offers readers a short, non-technical guide to the workings of a fast-moving industry that remains of huge importance to both national and global economies.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Analysing Corruption
Repeated corruption scandals and the efforts of the international political community to find ways to counteract them have compelled economists, anthropologists and political scientists to confront corruption as a subject for serious academic research. This textbook introduces students to the field of corruption analysis and the challenges facing its researchers. The book explores the definitional challenges, the problems of measurement and the methodologies that underpin the standard corruption indices. The key drivers of corrupt practice are identified and the arguments used to understand the causes of corruption are outlined. The book looks at what works in the fight against corruption, including international conventions and organizations, and policy initiatives at the national level. The role of third sector organizations, the so-called “anti-corruption industry” and the work of citizen activists and “armchair auditors” are also explored. Analysing Corruption provides an authoritative and engaging introduction to a subject that is the largest public policy challenge that the state faces in many parts of the world. It is suitable for courses in politics, public policy, public administration, development studies and anthropology. It will also be of value to those working in NGOs and charities helping to shape anti-corruption thinking.
£26.05
Agenda Publishing The Market
We have become accustomed to economists and politicians talking about “market forces” as if they are immutable laws of the universe. But what exactly is “the market”? Originally an abstract idea from economic theory – the locus of supply and demand – it has come to inform the way we speak about our relationship to the economic system as a whole. Matthew Watson unpacks the concept to ask what does it really mean to allow ourselves to submit to market forces. And does economic theory really provide insights into the market institutions that shape our everyday life? In tackling these questions, the book provides a major contribution to a deeper appreciation of the dominant economic language of our time, challenging the idea that we can simply defer to the “logic of the market”.
£26.05
Agenda Publishing The Resource Curse
The resource curse, or paradox of plenty, refers to the long-established notion central in development economics that countries rich in natural resources, particularly minerals and fuels, perform less well economically than countries with fewer natural resources. In other words, resources are an economic curse rather than a blessing. This short primer explores the complexities of this idea and the debates that surround it, in particular under what conditions the resource curse might operate, if not universal. Discussion ranges over the nature of resource booms, the benefits and costs of export-led growth, the problems of deindustrialization and manufacturing base erosion, rent-seeking behaviour and corruption and the empirical evidence of the effects of natural resource dependence on growth. The book also considers the links between resource rents and the risk of conflict and civil war. The treatment draws throughout on a range of illustrative examples from across the developed and developing world and offers an authoritative introduction to one of the most perplexing issues for economic growth.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Behavioural Economics
The rise of behavioural approaches in economics has been one of most significant developments in the study of economic decision-making in recent years. The increasingly acknowledged failings of standard models of choice to explain economic decisions has prompted economists to incorporate into their analysis psychological insights into individual behaviour, such as social cognitive and emotional biases. This book introduces the topic of behavioural economics to a beginning readership, explaining its approach and methodology and assessing its successes and weaknesses. The book begins by tracing the evolution of the field from its origins in Adam Smith’s moral sentiments through the work of Herbert Simon to Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler today. The book explores how behavioural economics has advanced our understanding of human preferences including notions of fairness, reciprocity and inequality aversion, and the mental processes involved in decision making, which vary with the complexity of the decision and the ability of the decision-maker to process the information. The decision-making of individuals within social and economic groups is explored, including financial practitioners and what this can mean for financial markets. Finally the book looks at the ways in which findings from behavioural economics have been used to alter the decisions people make, such as the nudge approach, and the ethics of such persuasion.
£24.23
Agenda Publishing The Economics of Arms
It is estimated that today some 2.7% of world GDP ($1.5 trillion) is spent on arms. In 2014 Lockheed Martin, the US defence contractor, had revenues of $45 billion the equivalent of the GDP of Tunisia. This book explores the business behind these breathtaking figures and explains how the arms industry makes its money. The book begins by defining the industry, explaining why the sector is important, outlining its prime contractors and key supply chains. Its cost categories (from R&D to maintenance), the role of technical innovation, and the sector’s dependence on the monopsony buying power of Government, are all examined. The structure-conduct and performance model is used to show the workings of the arms market and its various entry and exit conditions, and the sector’s performance is analysed through various indicators including exports, development time scales, cost overruns and profitability. The complex choice problems of domestic procurement are considered alongside sales to foreign governments and the opportunities that may present for bribery and corruption. The Military-Industrial-Political-Complex (MIPC) is unpacked and the behaviour of its major agents national defence agencies, the armed forces, producer groups, political agents (voters, political parties and budget-maximising bureaucracies) is scrutinised, both in times of conflict (expansion) and peace (contraction). The book concludes by considering future trends, such as whether arms industries are better under state or private ownership, and how they can meet the challenge of new threats in different forms. The discussion throughout is anchored to case studies from all parts of the world, including Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia as well as UK, US and Europe. As an authoritative non-technical introduction to the economics of arms industries, it is suitable for students of business studies, politics, international relations, political economy, strategic and defence studies as well as for courses on microeconomics and industrial economics. As a masterly summation from one of the world’s leading defence economists, it will also be required reading for staff in defence ministries, procurement agencies, the armed forces and strategic studies think-tanks throughout the world.
£24.23
Agenda Publishing Getting Over New Labour
To understand the Labour Party today one needs to appreciate how people in the party have reacted to the New Labour legacy. Karl Pike examines the efforts each of the three leaders have made in reforming the party's ideology, its democracy and organization and their political style and approach to the leadership.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Demography and the Making of the Modern World
How has demography shaped the Arab Spring, migrant flights from Africa to Europe, budget negotiations in the USA, immigration debates in Japan and economic growth in India and Brazil, among others? John Rennie Short explores the wide-ranging economic, social and public policy implications of population changes using contemporary case studies.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Learning and Sustainability in Dangerous Times
Stephen Sterling is a pioneer in sustainability education. This collection of his essential writings is freshly curated by the author and offers a new overview and chapter by chapter introductions that link together his thinking to inform the growing and urgent debate on the role and nature of education.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Righting the Economy: Towards a People's Recovery from Economic and Environmental Crisis
Human rights and economics are not often spoken about in the same breath. Yet increasingly, human rights actors are calling for a shift towards a rights-based or human-rights economy. One that puts the economy truly at the service of communities contending with extreme social and economic inequality, climate catastrophe and corporate abuses. The economies we live in structure our daily experiences and represent systems which can profoundly affect our ability to enjoy our rights to decent work, adequate healthcare, political participation, freedom from violence and more. This book systematizes academic and practitioners’ analyses and experiences, drawing from different epistemologies, literatures and case studies, to flesh out what a rights-based economy would look like, and the tools and actions – economic, legal, environmental and social – needed to get there.
£94.24
Agenda Publishing Righting the Economy
This collection of essays from both civil society professionals and academics advocates for a new economy, one built on the foundation of human rights.
£29.99
Agenda Publishing Warmonger: Vladimir Putin's Imperial Wars
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a war long in the making and is the latest in a series of military interventions that have showcased Vladimir Putin’s deadly imperial ambitions and the ruthless and bloody strategies that serve his vision of a greater Russia. Putin’s Russia wants its empire back and it has taken the events in Ukraine for the West to finally realize it. Alex Bellamy examines the road to Ukraine 2022 and charts the path from Chechnya, Putin’s first war which helped propel him to the presidency, through to conflict in Georgia, Crimea, the South Caucasus and Syria. He shows the central role war has played in Putin’s rule and how it has helped craft a new social contract between president and people grounded in a shared vision of Russian national identity. For anyone wanting to understand the hows and whys of the war in Ukraine, Alex Bellamy’s clear and insightful analysis is a must-read.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Wealth of Cities and the Poverty of Nations
A corrective to the view that cities are only ever good, arguing that the same urban properties which make cities so extraordinarily proficient at producing the good innovations also provides fertile ground for the development of the bad ones, on which urban elites have syphoned off wealth from other localities and regions.
£25.30
Agenda Publishing Global Health: Geographical Connections
Drawing on the latest research in health geography and a wide range of case studies from across the world, this comprehensive and authoritative study offers students an unrivalled analysis of the geographical connections of global health and the challenges they present for governance and treatment. Topics considered include health inequalities across countries, the governance of health by nation-states and international organizations, the incidence and spread of infectious disease, the links between air and water quality and health outcomes, and the health impacts of climate change. The book considers how these different issues play out in a range of geographical settings across the world, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionally affected. The book demonstrates the indispensable role of geographical processes operating across borders in understanding health worldwide and is an excellent resource for courses on health geography, global health, public health and development studies.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Sustainable Human Settlements within the Global Urban Agenda: Formulating and Implementing SDG 11
The UN's urban sustainability goal (#11) is fundamental to the global sustainable development agenda. David Simon explains the anatomy and dynamics of SDG 11, and critically assess how it is being used and understood in different local, regional and national contexts. Supported by case studies throughout, Simon considers how SDG 11 interacts with other Sustainability Development Goals and how competing indicators, other external constraints, as well as lack of political will can present tough challenges to implementation. He provides a balanced and dispassionate analysis, highlighting problems and limitations alongside positive applications. A key aspect of the unfolding story of the SDGs is how they play out in practice. Although some of the connections and complementarities were designed, others are shown to have emerged by default. Drawing on lessons learnt so far, Simon considers how realistic sustainability goals are for cities and human settlements worldwide, and asks how different will cities be by the end of the SDG's 15-year lifespan in 2030? Written for students, policy-makers and practitioners, the book provides an authoritative assessment of one of the most important and integrative SDGs.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Sustainable Development, Education and Learning: The Challenge of Inclusive, Quality Education for All
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #4 focuses on inclusive, quality education, galvanizing efforts for substantial educational reform around the globe. Progress is being made but are the initiatives being upscaled and mainstreamed rapidly enough? Has caring become an essential aspect of learning? Have cooperative learning and creativity been given enough attention? Are teachers receiving sufficient support? These are some of the questions raised by Victoria Thoresen as she considers the goals and challenges iterated in the SDG. Thoresen argues that unless implementation of the new definitions of inclusive, quality education are prioritized everywhere, sustainable development will be severely hampered and, conceivably, misdirected. She examines the recent evolution of education in light of political and commercial ambitions, technological advancements, and knowledge creation and sharing. Key concerns relating to education for and learning about sustainable development are identified and major obstacles to achieving inclusive, quality education for all are discussed.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Natural Dividend: Just Management of our Common Resources
Forced to embrace a post-carbon future, or risk serious damage to the planet, we have begun a race for alternatives to the scarce resources that previous generations relied on. In this book, Jonathan Moses and Anne Brigham consider how best we might negotiate the world’s scarce pool of natural resources, and avoid the pitfalls of the past. In order to shift the world’s consumption from one set of scarce natural resources to another, they show the need for management regimes that are both politically, as well as environmentally, sustainable. They propose an alternative way to think about resource management for the future, one based on the collective ownership of (stewardship over) nature, and one where the rents resulting from this ownership, like the resources that produce them, belong to the people. Using case studies from particular markets, they demonstrate how such a management model might work to protect our common heritage and allow communities to secure the benefits we can and should expect from scarce resources – our natural dividend.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Pursuit of Governance: Nordic Dispatches on a New Middle Way
Although there is no overt ideological battle in the twenty-first century, citizens in every latitude register growing dissatisfaction with the results delivered by their governments. In the West they increasingly turn to populist forces to seek an easy respite to the frustration caused by the failures of democracy. Other models of governance, such as China’s "autocratic capitalism", rest on technocratic command and control methods that are disdained in the West but whose global appeal is growing mostly due to their perceived ability to deliver. No matter how and where they are practised, these alternatives seem to offer only partial and unsatisfactory answers to increasingly complex questions of governance. In a world ravaged by pandemics and climate crises, migration flows and cyberwars, rigid rule-making imparted from above or populist over-simplifications brewing from below can only represent the extremes of a more sophisticated picture of governing processes. In this book, Fabrizio Tassinari seeks to rediscover the methods, practices and limits of good governance. By taking inspiration from the Nordic region, where democratic governance has delivered some of its most impressive feats, he shows that populism and technocracy are not the causes of our political malaise; they represent skewed by-products of the most basic instincts in our body politic. They need not be suppressed but channelled and reconciled in our practices of governing.
£24.23
Agenda Publishing The Economics of Airlines
The airline industry is fundamental to the workings of the global economy. Yet, ironically for an industry of such sheer scale and economic muscle, profit margins are razor thin and many airlines struggle to break even. The precarious economics of the sector were fully revealed when Covid-19 grounded flights across the world prompting many national carriers to seek government bailouts, while smaller airlines collapsed. In this updated and expanded new edition Volodymyr Bilotkach explains the economic realities of the airline industry and the challenges that the sector now faces after the seismic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The impact of such a large-scale external shock on the industry is considered across each of its sectors and for each of its primary economic determinants. The book also includes new material on changes to cost structures, the pricing of add-on services, cargo, airport slot allocation and the impact of climate change. The book remains a comprehensive introduction to the economics of airlines, how carriers compete, how they develop their business, and how demand and cost structure, coupled with the complex regulatory regime, produces the industry we see today.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK: From Productivity Problems to Development Dilemmas
Does the UK still have an industrial strategy? How should we understand the renewed interest within government in industrial policy – and now its apparent reversal – in recent years? This collection of essay by leading academics and practitioners including Victoria Chick, Kate Bell, Simon Lee, Karel Williams, Susan Himmelweit, Laurie Macfarlane and Ron Martin – among many others– considers the effectiveness of recent industrial policies in addressing the UK’s economic malaise. In offering a broad political economy perspective on economic statecraft and development in the UK, the book focuses on the political and institutional foundations of industrial policy, the value of "foundational" economic practices, the challenge of greening capitalism and addressing regional inequalities, and the new financial and corporate governance structures required to radicalize industrial strategy.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Quantitative Easing: The Great Central Bank Experiment
Before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008–09, significant reductions in official interest rates typically proved sufficient to generate sustainable economic recoveries from downturns. However, with economies and financial markets in freefall during the crisis despite a cut in interest rates to effectively zero, policymakers in some advanced economies launched a major new tool called quantitative easing (QE). This involved central banks purchasing huge amounts of financial assets. This book offers a thorough and perspicacious analysis of QE, which has become a recovery method of last resort. Whilst it was successful in averting another Great Depression and stimulating growth, it remains controversial and continues to promote widespread debate in economics, financial, and political-economy circles. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand central banking in the national economy.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing The South Korean Economy
South Korea has the tenth largest economy in the world and is one of only two Asian members of the OECD. It has achieved this remarkable level of economic development since its independence from Japan in 1945. Indeed, it has achieved this transformation, exceptional for any postcolonial state, despite one of the most brutal fratricidal conflicts fought since the Second World War. Sunil Kim and Jonson Porteux chart this astonishing economic and political development and explain the puzzle that is the South Korean economy. The authors examine how South Korea has developed a highly innovative economy based on advanced technologies and infrastructure – counter-intuitively, given its postcolonial legacy of military leaders and lack of fully developed free markets. The longstanding family-owned and run industrial conglomerates – the chaebol – characteristic of the Korean economy are shown to have been behind the shift to high-tech industrialization, albeit under the strict influence of the state. The challenges of increased global interconnectedness, the precarious and fragile relationship with North Korea, the slowdown of domestic demand, recent assaults on the chaebol and their families, together with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, are furthermore addressed. The book offers new insights and frameworks for understanding the fascinating history and future trajectory of South Korea’s political economy as well as the causes and consequences of industrialization and democratization more generally.
£75.00
Agenda Publishing Central Bank Independence and the Future of the Euro
Over the past decade central banks have taken on new and expanded roles in an attempt to manage the global financial crisis. The European Central Bank (ECB) has been no exception. If anything, because of the incomplete architecture of the euro, the ECB has faced more serious challenges than either the Bank of England or the Federal Reserve. With the onset of the euro crisis, the ECB was forced to take on powers that went well beyond the conventions of standard monetary policy to prevent European Monetary Union from unravelling. Panicos Demetriades, former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus during the country's bailout in 2013, examines the role of the ECB and its adoption of these new powers, which have led to legal and political challenges, high level resignations and the controversial removal of central bankers from their posts without due process. Demetriades argues that at a time when stability and action are needed to secure the future of the euro, the very foundations of the Euro-system are being eroded, namely its ability to act independently. The book provides a lively and insightful account of the processes that can make or break the euro.
£75.00