Book Description
Published in Association with UNRISD, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development This wide-ranging comparative analysis of contemporary and future changes in welfare states examines the different trajectories of the welfare states of Europe, North America, the Antipodes, and the emerging scenarios in Latin America, East Asia, and central and eastern Europe. Leading experts from these regions explore the current structures of social protection, consider the causes of the current welfare state crisis, and highlight evolving trends for welfare policy. The emerging picture is one of varied policy choices in each region. Contributors argue that anxieties about population aging as a cause of welfare decline are exaggerated and that the key issue for welfare states is enabling women to work and form families simultaneously. They suggest that the neoliberal strategy of deregulation and heightened inequality is no real solution because its negative side effects. The authors conclude that a viable positive-sum solution would involve social investment strategies, offering guarantees against entrapment in poverty or low-paying jobs. Professionals and researchers in comparative social policy, sociology, economics and political science will find Welfare States in Transition an invaluable resource.
Customer Reviews:
More Esping-Andersonesque Insight.......1999-02-09
While perhaps not as ambitious as "Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism", this volume is also less concerned to push a theory. Instead it takes a broad global view of Welfare States, not only in the rich western countries, but also in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. This collection of essays again shows Esping-Anderson's (and his groupies') enviably clear understanding of why Welfare States behave the way they do. The prose is wonderfully clear through-and-through.
Book Description
Critics of globalization claim that economic integration drains political authority from states: devolving authority to newly empowered regions, delegating it to supranational organizations, and transferring it to multinational firms and nongovernmental organizations. Globalization is also attacked for forcing convergence of state institutions and policies and threatening the ability of societies to chart their own democratically determined courses. In Governance in a Global Economy, Miles Kahler and David Lake assemble the contributions of seventeen leading scholars who have systematically investigated how global economic integration produces changes of governance. These authors conclude that globalization has created a new and intricate fabric of governance, but one that fails to match the stark portrait of beleaguered states.
Exploring changes in governance across several policy areas (such as tourism, trade, finance, and fiscal and monetary policy), the authors demonstrate that globalization changes the policy preferences of some actors, increases the bargaining power of others, and opens new institutional options for yet others. By reintroducing agency and choice into our understanding of globalization, this book provides important new insights into the complex and contingent effects of globalization on political authority and governance.
The introduction and the conclusion are by the editors; the contributors are James A. Caporaso, Benjamin J. Cohen, Barry Eichengreen, Zachary Elkins, Geoffrey Garrett, Peter Gourevitch, Virginia Haufler, Michael J. Hiscox, Robert O. Keohane, Lisa L. Martin, Walter Mattli, Kathleen R. McNamara, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Jonathan Rodden, Ronald Rogowski, Beth A. Simmons, and Peter Van Houten.
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The Urban Caribbean: Transition to the New Global Economy
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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ASIN: 0801855195 |
Book Description
The Urban Caribbean studies urbanization in five countries--Costa Rica, Haiti, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica--during the 1980s and 1990s when the region's economy shifted from one heavily dependent on imports to one directed more to producing exports. This shift caused producers and entrepreneurs to rely more on microenterprises, thus challenging the informal economy networks of the central cities. Sociologist Alejandro Portes and the other contributors use rich, in-depth data to examine both qualitative and quantitative changes in these five countries. Their research method allows them to make generalizations applicable to all five economies while retaining the concreteness of the similarities and differences that make each country unique.
"This volume is an incentive to other collaborative efforts to chart the paths taken by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean as they seek to accommodate to the new global political and economic context....The message of the volume is a convincing one. Because of similarities in the trends affecting countries of the region and policy debates, each country can benefit from the experiences of the others. However, the differences in political structure and in the nature of citizenship mean that social and economic policy debates must take into account the national context."--from the Foreword, by Bryan Roberts, University of Texas-Austin
Book Description
How do high wage countries stay rich in a global digital economy? How Revolutionary was the Digital Revolution constructs a framework for analyzing the international digital era: one that examines the ability of political actors to innovate and experiment in spite of, or perhaps because of, the constraints posed by digital technology.
In order to assess the revolutionary nature of the digital era, this book takes four overlapping approaches. First, it examines the reaction of nations, specifically Finland, Japan, and emerging markets, to the dual challenges of globalization and technological change. This section identifies both successful and failed national experiments intended to deal with these dual pressures. Second, it assesses corporate attempts to leverage digital technology to reorganize work. A broad range of issues including off-shoring, open source production systems, and knowledge management are addressed. Third, devoting detailed analysis to the case of mobile telephones, the book offers insights into the political economy of market evolution in the digital era. The final section considers the political ramifications of information technology for critical societal debates ranging from privacy to intellectual property.
The contributors to the book map out how the digital revolution shakes up politics, creating new economic and political winners and losers. In order to do so, they connect theories of political economy to the implications of digital technology for international as well as national markets.
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City-States in the Global Economy: Industrial Restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore (Transitions: Asia & Asian America)
Manufacturer: Westview Press
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ASIN: 081333635X |
Book Description
The first serious comparative study of two dynamic Asian city-states--Hong Kong and Singapore--that are emerging as key regional--indeed global--cities.
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The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia: Democratization And Economic Liberalization in a Global Economy (Eurasian Political Economy and Public Policy Studies)
Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
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ASIN: 0870137662 |
Book Description
Why are some nations wealthy while others are desperately poor? Despite the rapid advancement of technology and the free flow of information provided by computers, many poor nations are falling further behind the wealthy nations of the world. Why is it that these poorer nations cannot catch up? Until recently, economic theory provided limited help in answering these questions. But the New Institutional Economics, a rapidly growing body of economic theory, may provide the answers. Timothy Yeager's Institutions, Transition Economies, and Economic Development clearly explains the New Institutional Economics, and applies its tenets to the transition economies of Poland and Russia. Readers will gain a perspective on transition and developing economies that has never been explored before in a single book.
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China's Transition to a Global Economy
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 1403901678 |
Book Description
How has China approached the global economy? Webber, Wang and Zhu attempt to answer this question through analysis of the concepts of globalization, transition and regionalization. China's approach has been experimental, stressing the liberalization of trade and investment flows and the development of a market economy. By these indexes globalization in China has been gradual and uneven. Integrating Western social science and Chinese research, this book assesses the nature and effect of globalization in China and its implications.
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East Germany's Economic Development: Domestic and Global Aspects (Studies in Economic Transition)
Manufacturer: Mcmillin Pub Llc
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ASIN: 0333724895 |
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Economic Transition in the Middle East: Global Challenges & Adjustment Strategies
Heba Handoussa
Manufacturer: American University in Cairo Press
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ASIN: 9774244281 |
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Is there a new development paradigm? This volume brings together a number of studies on the major issues of adjustment as they apply to countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The authors draw on economic, political and institutional theory in order to appraise and compare the development models, identify the determinants of sustained growth, apply the new development concepts to the case of MENA countries, and suggest viable options to reduce the political and social constraints to reform. Four sets of issues are vividly highlighted throughout the book: the issue of integration into the global economy and the speed with which foreign trade should be liberalized; the issue of divestiture and the merits of following various privatization strategies; the issue of state intervention in the context of liberalization and private sector orientation; and the issue of democratization and the political economy of reform. Contributors: Fikret Adaman, Nazih Ayubi, Driss Ben Ali, Amar Bhattacharya, Ha-Joon Chang, Byron Gangnes, Giacomo Luciani, Seiji Naya, Jeffrey B. Nugent, John M. Page, Jr., Raed Safadi, Mona Said, Khaled Sakr, Murat Sertel.
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Contemporary organization development: Current thinking and applications
Manufacturer: Scott, Foresman
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ASIN: 0673180328 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent report on Origin of Life theory and research.......2005-10-26
Iris Fry provides an excellent summary of origin of life theories and research. In a somewhat journalistic style she briefly revisits the early "thought leaders" and proceeds to show how orgin of life theory has progressed to the present in keeping with advances in scientific knowledge of molecular chemistry and cell biology. She covers the current schools of thought, supporting research, and major players of the naturalism community without taking sides. This is an excellent resource for someone who seeks a general understanding of the state of origin of life science and its future challenges.
A highly readable book about the origin of life on Earth.......2005-05-19
This is an excellent overview of the research on the origin of life. It starts with historical material, including the refutation of ancient "spontaneous generation" theories by Pasteur. We then get to the Darwinians. Haeckel in particular felt that inanimate matter made a transition to a living system in an evolutionary manner. In the 1920s, Oparin and Haldane speculated on the organic components and atmosphere that might have been present on the early Earth. And Fry tells us of the Urey-Miller experiment of 1953.
Next we find out about the contributions of Sidney Fox, who suggested a model that started with abiotic material and then generated amino acids, condensed them to form "protenoids," and then formed cell-like "microspheres." This was a "protein-first approach." That is contrasted with the "gene-first approach" and accompanying experiments by Spiegelman, Orgel, and Eigen.
There is a discussion of the "RNA world" and whether or not there was a world of earlier self-replicators. And Fry gives arguments for and against the ideas of Freeman Dyson (with the emphasis on primitive cells), Stuart Kauffman (with the emphasis on "catalytic closure") and Gunter Wachtershauser (with the emphasis on Iron Sulfide chemistry).
Fry is at her best discussing the need to ask if life originated by a series of likely steps, by design, or by one or more unlikely steps. She makes it clear that long required sequences simply can't form by pure chance. There must be some natural ordering (such as in snowflakes) as well as incremental improvement (in an evolutionary manner). And if we are left with some theories that require some incredible luck and some theories that do not require such luck, we'll obviously prefer the latter. She discusses de Duve's ideas here. It seems that a "scaffolding" approach is a good concept, while autocatalytic cycles may be needed almost by definition (of life).
That gets us to the final chapter, where the definition of life is indeed discussed. In addition, Fry talks about the possibility of there having been life on Mars and elsewhere in our solar system. There's also some material about habitable zones, and on the possibility of life on extrasolar planets.
I recommend this book.
Not spontaneously generated.......2004-02-07
From the ancient Greek philosophers through Enlightenment science to today's high-tech world, how life originated has been a compelling question. Fry presents the thinkers and their ideas about this enigma with penetrating skill. Her recapitulation of the philosophical questions set in their historical perspective demonstrates the persistence of many concepts regarding life's history. "Spontaneous generation", now considered a quaint idea, dominated the view of theologians and natural scientists alike. Even when empirical experiments demonstrated the falsity of the notion, versions of it remained, deflecting other proposals.
Fry shows how Darwin's idea of natural selection over vast periods of time allowed tracing a view of life back to simple, microscopic life forms. Darwin's famous "warm little pond" may have been an incomplete picture, but it demonstrated a break with established notions. Complex life evolved from simple life, not fully blown from a soiled shirt. Only in the 20th Century did technology and the discovery of unanticipated life forms in extreme conditions allow a look at the chemical basis of life before complexity could emerge.
Fry carefully and skillfully examines all these steps, giving each thinker his due while placing him in historical context. There's more than one surprise here for those who don't know the lives of researchers such as Pasteur, Eigen or Oparin. As she reveals the progress of thinking on the subject, Fry examines the roots of various proposals, their advances and their shortcomings. Was life's beginning protein-based? Are amino acids the foundation or the product of life? Did RNA precede DNA or the reverse? Science proceeds on a step-by-step basis and Fry describes that halting, but useful process far better than most. While Fry's descriptive prose reflects a thesis style, the wealth of information here overrides that limited criticism.
Among the modern thinkers on life's origins, Fry provides the best summation available on the ideas of two men, Graham Cairns Smith and Gunther Wachtershauser. Both men have offered theories of chemical beginnings of life, the one suggesting clay crystals as replication models, the other utilising the iron-sulfur energy capacity of pyrite. These two concepts are united by Fry in light of the processes found associated with deep sea-floor vents.
Fry's conclusion deals with the likelihood of life on worlds other than Earth. The dispute over whether the Antarctic Martian meteorite exhibits organic residues serves to show how limited current information actually is on pre-life chemistry. More research, more examination and more questions need to be posed. Fry's book provides a solid foundation for the next steps. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
The Best Origins of Life Book to Date.......2003-11-20
Trained in philosophy, but more than conversant in chemistry and biochemistry, Iris Fry does the scientific community a splendid service in offering this comprehensive and up-to-date look at the scientific work being done on life's origins. She points out that it is ultimately a metaphysical matter, resting on faith--but on faith backed up by the splendid track record of scientific empiricism--that life evolved, most likely on Earth, from inanimate matter. But as you read this detailed and wonderfully referenced work the odds of life appearing otherwise appreciably diminish, and a picture, soberly stated and carefully argued, of a metabolic (pre-genetic) origin prior to genes subtly insinuates itself into your rational consciousness. My favorite part of the work is the reference to Jeffrey Wicken whose critique of Manfred Eigen's hypercyle theory leads me to suggest that a selfish RNA world would no more be likely to encumber its streamlined replicants with bodies than an Olympic sprinter would be to run a three-legged race. I am not sure about her Kantian interpretations and she misses some important work on the origins of life, such as Clifford Matthews hydrogen cyanide world; she also does not (in my opinion) sufficiently ground life's early cyclical processes in cyclical nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems. But you can't have everything--where would you put it?
I love the fact that she is a philosopher and outside the various factions she surveys. This means she has no axe to grind and you can trust her as a fair guide among the competing views which, she points out, will increasingly come together as science moves forward. Best read along with Freeman Dyson's revised, 1999 edition entitled Origins of Life.
A very exaustive overview.......2002-09-13
I've read many books on this theme,but I rarely came across a treatise so complete,so vast in scope ans so profound and well written, whit many original and illuminating notations. The historical background the author gives adds a most needed cultural and philosophical perspective on human thinking (and biases) in the exploration of one of the greatest scientific mysteries.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Skeptic (Altadena, CA), published by Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine on January 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1309 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: All You Need to Know About the Origin of Life.(Emergence of Life on Earth: A Historical and Scientific Overview)(Book Review)
Author: Massimo Pigliucci
Publication:
Skeptic (Altadena, CA) (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Page: 80(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Life Issues: Its Origin, Rarity and Sometimes Artful Arrangement.(Review): An article from: American Scientist
Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
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Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Books:
- Who Owns the Sky?: Our Common Assets And The Future Of Capitalism
- Wisdom from the Ancients: Enduring Business Lessons from Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and the Illustrious Leaders of Ancient Greece and Rome
- Without a Map: Political Tactics and Economic Reform in Russia
- Workbook for Methods of Macroeconomic Dynamics - 2nd Edition
- World Boom Ahead: Why Business and Consumers Will Prosper
- A Companion to Theoretical Econometrics (Blackwell Companions to Contemporary Economics)
- A Course in Monetary Economics: Sequential Trade, Money, and Uncertainty
- Achieving Broad-Based Sustainable Development: Governance, Environment, and Growth With Equity (Kumarian Press Books on International Development)
- Advanced Planning and Scheduling Solutions in Process Industry (GOR-Publications)
- Adversity Quotient @ Work: Make Everyday Challenges the Key to Your Success--Putting the Principles of AQ Into Action
Books Index
Books Home
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The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
Social Policy in the United States
Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies
The New Politics of the Welfare State
Why We Need a New Welfare State
