This book is among the first to map out China's strategic narratives in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Recognizing that the Chinese actors involved with and influencing Chinese foreign policy has continued to grow under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the authors shed light on the nuances and variations of distinctive sources of China's foreign policy with regard to the current war in Ukraine. They empirically analyse the nuances and variations of Chinese sources of foreign policy and illuminate China's possible course of action and role in response to current and future international security crises. In particular, the book seeks to answer the following questions: What strategic narratives have China's official sources of foreign policy disseminated concerning the war in Ukraine? What do Chinese MFA, media and think tank strategic narratives reveal about China's view of, identity in relation to and potential solutions for the conflict in Ukraine? To what extent are these narratives consistent and or competitive? The research argues that China's strategic narratives project different views, values and solutions to the current war, thereby reflecting the lack of a top-down masterplan on security issues and conflicts. In turn, China's contradictory strategic narratives provide evidence that China's foreign and security policy is a work in progress, raising the necessity to acknowledge some degree of uncertainty with respect to China's future intentions.

Digital platforms have garnered both apprehension and admiration for their disruptive influence on social systems, structures, and everyday lives. However, research insights on digital platforms and ecosystems, both in theory and practice, largely emerge from the Global North. Pivoting this focus to the Global South, An Introduction to Platform Economy in India explores the operational socio-technical framework of India's growing platform economy at the confluence of numerous platform ecosystems developed both globally and nationally.

Employing an economic sociology perspective, the authors examine the pivotal roles of individuals and collectives, alongside their embedded socio-economic and technical arrangements, to show the multifaceted dimensions of the rapid proliferation of platforms, burgeoning platform memberships, and the ensuing multidimensional social exchanges in India. The chapters respond to growing interest in India's platform economies by showing how the country figures prominently in visions of platform futures, whether as an emerging market, a critical node in global supply chains, or a catalyst for technological innovation.

Promising to be a timely intervention grounded in economic sociological analysis, this introductory text bridges the existing gap in the production of such scholarly literature from the Global South. By shedding light on the intricacies of platform dynamics, adoption, usage, and their impact on the social and economic lives of people in India, readers gain valuable insights that inform our understanding of the broader global dynamics of platform economies.

This book consists of selected full-length research articles that were presented at the International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka 2023 with multidisciplinary approaches for a sustainable and resilient future through sustainable agriculture and food technology, applications of geomatics, biosystems and engineering technologies, business and management studies, computing, medical and health sciences, natural and applied sciences and social sciences and humanities.

Billions of species have been wiped out in the face of perpetual aggressions of nature ever since the world came into existence, yet humans have always prevailed. They always knew how to adapt, innovate and be defiant to circumvent the deadly challenges on their way. With the rising energy prices, inflation, declining food supply, soaring world population, unwarranted political conflicts, culture wars and major environmental challenges, we are yet again at a crossroads. The present demands action to reverse course and find sustainable solutions to save the world from the brink of total collapse. With eight tracks and over 200 speakers, the 9th International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (ICSUSL 2023) yields a platform for scholars and scientific minds around the world to create global partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations and lead the movement by advancing multidisciplinary approaches for a sustainable and resilient future.

The different sub-themes that focus on a sustainable and resilient future suggest different methodologies and solutions to burning global issues. Given its multidisciplinary nature, this book is useful to a vast array of stakeholders from a wide spectrum of disciplines including academics, policymakers and practitioners who work towards sustainability.

This book aims to present case studies on planetary transformations and re-definitions, specifically in the sectors of cultural heritage destruction, conservation, and dissemination through media arts intended for cultural tourism services and enjoyment. The current crises in Ukraine and the Middle East have prompted a need for deeper reflection on various issues and risks, including economic, ecological, political, cultural, media, and tourism-related. The book will include methods such as questionnaires, interviews, direct observation through photos and videos, and the use of 'mobile methods' (Urry, 2007), such as locative media (cell phones, etc.). The book chapters are written to be comparable to future social and sociological situations. The book aims to inform various audiences, including researchers, teachers, students, citizens, tourists, and migrants, about the impact of the Ukraine war on their economic situation, inclusion, everyday life, democratic participation, citizenship, and understanding of information and knowledge.

This book provides a comprehensive and systematic examination of the newly amended arbitration legal system in China.

It adopts an approach that integrates theoretical interpretation with practical case studies, focusing not only on the legislative intent and doctrinal foundations behind the legal provisions but also on their interpretation and application. Furthermore, it delves into the potential impacts of the new arbitration law on commercial arbitration practice within China. In addition to presenting the main content of the new arbitration law in full detail, this book includes essential materials on major developments in China ' s arbitration system in recent years, including judicial cases and scholarly perspectives. It also incorporates comparative insights from international arbitration, offering readers a reference that combines theoretical depth with practical value.

This book is intended for a diverse readership, including arbitration practitioners, academic researchers, corporate legal counsel, and judges, aiming to provide an authoritative and detailed resource for understanding the latest developments in China's arbitration system.

Its unique value lies in being the first English-language monograph to interpret China's newly amended Arbitration Law enacted in 2025, making it a timely and professional specialist work in the field. This book serves not only as an essential academic reference for studying the modernization of China's arbitration system but also contributes Chinese theoretical and practical insights to the global development of arbitration institutions.

Vincent F. Hendricks's Sucker Nation asks the questions 'Why do intelligent, informed people continue to participate in systems they privately distrust?' and 'Why does exploitation persist even when manipulation is widely recognized?' This timely book argues that the answer lies in a structural 'hustler/sucker' distinction-not a matter of intelligence or morality, but of epistemic asymmetry and failed common knowledge. Drawing on game theory, epistemic logic, and the philosophy of attention, it shows how rational agents can become trapped in equilibria where acting reasonably still means paying a price, i.e. trading wits for vanity.

From financial markets and crypto bubbles to political communication, online scams, and platform society, agency itself becomes the resource that others extract. This book shows that to act, one must be visible; to be visible is to be exploitable. Insight does not dissolve this condition-it clarifies it. What remains is a tragic form of agency: damaged, unavoidable, and still necessary. A must-read for all those who have online lives - that means all of us ...

Reveals how nutrition science emerged from Britain's attempts to mold the food chain to its imperial interests.

The Lion's Share offers a biography of nutrition as a scientific discipline, from its imperial birth, through its rise to fame, to its integration into an environmental and political global order. Even though medical knowledge involved food since ancient times, at the beginning of the twentieth century, nutrition was not yet a scientific discipline in an institutional or practical sense. Nevertheless, by the 1930s, it was one of the most politically influential scientific fields, with nutritionists operating as medical diplomats within national, international, and imperial organizations. As historian Alma Igra explains, it is through the global networks of British power that a decidedly marginal field of technical knowledge concerned with agricultural productivity and animal feeding evolved into an area of expertise governing the human diet and related issues of public health, economic development, and humanitarian aid.

The Lion's Share visits five pivotal moments that prompted new nutritional research at transnational meetings in Scotland, Iraq, Vienna, Geneva, and the Netherlands. Through the eyes of the experts, Igra tracks how nutrition became an international science, with mobile labs, collaborations among institutions, and a constant clash between local and imperial practices. Standardization of food measurement created new ways for food to be international and allowed politicians to imagine the world as one. Yet tensions remained that shaped international policy in the twentieth century and still affect international land policy today.

In 2021, the London School of Economics found that octopuses are sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain, distress, and happiness, and that high-welfare farming of them would therefore be impossible. But the enormous international demand for octopus meat continues to grow even as wild octopus populations decline, prompting a race to bring the first farm-raised product to market. At the same time, firestorms of protest in Europe and the United States over the ethics of farming such an intelligent creature are pressuring lawmakers to ban the practice altogether.

After working at one of the world's first octopus farms, on the Yucatan Peninsula, award-winning journalist Richard Schweid embarked on a global adventure to explore the ethics and future of octopus aquaculture. He traveled to octopus-farming sites in Mexico, Spain, and Japan where he met people on both sides of the ethical debate: marine biologists, businesspeople, restaurateurs, animal rights advocates, octopus farmers, and everyday fishermen whose livelihoods depend on wild octopus. In this vibrant account of his experiences, Schweid also engages pressing related issues: environmental impact; the need for sustainable farming opportunities in underresourced communities; and how global desires for specific foods place pressure on local populations. Ultimately, the appetite for octopus demonstrates the conundrums of our interconnected world-across countries, through oceans, and via the food we consume.

Airline pricing is a topic that attracts widespread academic and public interest. The ten papers collected in this volume each offer valuable insights into this complex field, either by directly analysing pricing practices, or by exploring topics that have clear implications on how airlines set fares. Altogether, they offer a multifaceted view of an industry shaped by constant change and intense competitive pressures.

The past twenty five years the United States airline industry have seen unprecedented consolidation of legacy carriers, as well as the growth of low-cost carriers. A wave of mergers among legacy carriers have reshaped the competitive landscape, whilst low-cost carriers have continued to expand their market presence by challenging traditional pricing models. Joint venture agreements and partnerships with regional carriers have impacted fares. Courts have also undone a joint venture agreement. These structural shifts have influenced everything from the existence of a hub premium to revenue management strategies to route decisions, ancillary fee structures, and consumer expectations.

By examining these developments from a range of analytical perspectives, this volume highlights the enduring complexities of airline pricing and the evolving forces that continue to shape it.

This commemorative volume marks the 40th anniversary of the International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society (ISS), which was founded in 1986. It features personal reflections from prominent scholars, including past presidents, vice presidents, and Schumpeter Prize winners, who have influenced the development of Schumpeterian ideas in economics, management, and related fields.

Each chapter provides an insider's perspective on intellectual journeys, examining how Schumpeter's work has influenced research agendas and continues to inspire contemporary scholarship. Contributors discuss the development of Schumpeterian thinking, its impact on economic theory, and their visions for the discipline's future.

Edited by Uwe Cantner (ISS Secretary General), Bernd Ebersberger, and Patrick Llerena (ISS President) this volume serves as both a historical record and a forward-looking reflection on innovation, economic dynamics, and transformation. It will appeal to anyone interested in the enduring legacy of Schumpeter's ideas.

International Relations and Feminisms: Latin American Voices in a Global Debate brings together the voices and experiences of scholars working in Latin American International Relations and offers a timely and critical intervention in a central debate shaping contemporary International Relations scholarship. From diverse feminist perspectives, the volume challenges the discipline's traditional assumptions and expands how global politics, power, and security are understood. Moving beyond Eurocentric and state-centric frameworks, the book foregrounds voices, experiences, and knowledges that have long been marginalised. Through theoretically informed and empirically grounded chapters, it demonstrates how feminist approaches reveal the gendered foundations of international politics and reshape core concepts such as sovereignty, diplomacy, security, and global governance. Engaging with intersectional, postcolonial, and decolonial debates, the volume speaks to scholars, students, and practitioners seeking inclusive and reflexive tools to analyse world politics, positioning Latin American feminism as a central lens for understanding and transforming International Relations.

The economy remains a rationalising tool for explaining the condition of the artist, both for professional and for experts, even when this implies a form of dissociation between the artist and the economist. Focusing on the relationship between art and the market removes entire sections of the social imagination and aesthetic sides linked to art. This two-volume ethnographic work provides answers to what appears to be a mysterious phenomenon, young people's vocation for art, by focusing on real-life situations and testimonials in a critical perspective.

This second volumes expands on the findings of the first, which explored the lives and careers of young artists, by exploring their early-carreer and the other professionals that exist in the creative industries, associative worlds and art world. Professionals, working in galleries, theatres and as gatekeepers in privileged cultural institutions, are essential to frame the entrepreneurial success promised to young artists if they play by their rules. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of the arts economy, work and employment and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

A wide-ranging introduction to the foundations and applications of organizational economics-essential for theorists and empiricists across a broad range of fields

The rapidly expanding field of organizational economics studies the activities and interactions of organizations of all kinds, from the firms that are key participants in nearly all economic activity to nonprofits, schools, government agencies, hospitals, political parties, religious groups, labor unions, and more. Organizational Economics introduces students and practitioners to the governance mindset, an innovative, unified approach to understanding how organizations manage difficult transactions. It sheds light on the frictions that plague these difficult transactions as well as the wide variety of instruments that organizations use to manage these frictions. By analyzing foundational models and applying those models to some of the core problems that organizations must face, this comprehensive textbook demonstrates how governance works in the economy and identifies ways for managers, policymakers, and economists to help governance and the economy work better.

• Introduces foundational theories in organizational economics and applies those theories to model important issues that real organizations face
• Takes seriously the conditions under which parties actively manage their interactions rather than governing them by an arms-length transaction, either by choice or necessity
• Covers foundational theories of incentives, control, influence, and relationships
• Applies these models to important topics in organizational economics, including personnel economics, authority, organizational structure, firm boundaries, and interfirm relationships
• Includes problems uniquely designed to help readers engage with the large and growing research literature
• Identifies future directions for research

This book provides a history of currencies for each currency-issuing country or territory on Earth. Sections offer details about coins and banknotes, along with brief histories to help contextualize changes in a region's or nation's currency over time. Covering different eras, the book explores how global trade, economic policies, and geopolitical changes have influenced currency systems.

A Global History of Currencies includes information to help researchers, economists, and history enthusiasts understand how money has shaped economies and civilizations over centuries. The organization of the book is both chronological and regional, making it easy for readers to explore how currency development differs across time periods and locations.

A qualified defense of authenticity claims in contemporary politics.

On both the Left and Right, we see a range of political claims cast in terms of authenticity, from transgender persons seeking recognition of who they truly are to religious business owners requesting exemptions from antidiscrimination laws. For claimants, what is often at stake is an inner self that would be harmed if changed or concealed. At the same time, many scholars are skeptical of authenticity claims, with some worrying that they are too nebulous and inward-looking and others fearing that they contain too much anti-democratic potential. There is also the added difficulty of determining when and on what grounds to accept a claim of authenticity.

Nina Hagel argues that while invoking authenticity has serious risks, it remains a crucial democratic resource. Through an engagement with canonical and contemporary political theorists, and an analysis of current political struggles centering on authenticity, Hagel advances a defense of authenticity's democratic potential, alongside a practice for interpreting and invoking such claims. While one might assume that this perspective clashes with the post-modern view that there is no true self outside of politics and history, Hagel puts forward a non-essentialist understanding of authenticity that emphasizes subject formation and emancipation. Hagel argues that authenticity claims best support democracy when they collectively steward, rather than overcome, the social powers that shape our identities. We ignore authenticity claims at our peril, since the objects of such claims are the norms and practices that make us who we are.

The rise and fall of the Voting Rights Act, from the triumph of its passage in 1965 to its evisceration by the Supreme Court in their 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally made good on the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment, which nearly a century before had granted Black Americans the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act was the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, which had battled for years against voting laws that made it all but impossible for Black Americans to cast a ballot. The act was a resounding success, bringing Americans of all races and ethnicities into the democratic process. And then, in 2013, the Supreme Court brought this progress to a screeching halt with their decision in Shelby County v. Holder. In this book, Michael Miller and Kevin Morris offer a sweeping history of the Voting Rights Act and the attacks it has suffered.

Miller and Morris explain that central to the act's success was its requirement that states and localities with a history of discrimination get federal permission to change their voting rules-a novel approach known as "preclearance." It was this requirement that the Shelby County decision eviscerated. Miller and Morris trace the devastating effect of Shelby County, using advanced research techniques to prove that the decision unleashed racially discriminatory voting policies. The result is a nation in which Americans of color cast fewer ballots, and in which the ballots they do cast count for less. But the story does not end there: the Supreme Court continues to undermine what remains of the Voting Rights Act. What President Lyndon B. Johnson called "an American problem," formerly kept in check by a strong federal law, once again threatens voting rights.

Sustainable development is at the forefront of urban, rural, social, agricultural and economic development policies in European countries, out of these areas, agriculture is researched the least as there is currently more focus on central and urban areas.

Salvati and Konaxis present an interdisciplinary and multidimensional examination of the complex evolution of rural systems in advanced economies, and more specifically in Europe and the Mediterranean region, providing an integrated framework approaching environmental problems and socioeconomic issues jointly. Distinctive chapters authored by leading scholars in Europe identify the intrinsic peculiarity of the environmental-economic nexus characteristic of advanced economies and the most important differences with other socioeconomic contexts. Both contributions from a traditional ecological/agronomic vision, and studies having a more strict socio-demographic and economic focus, clarify the role of policies addressing sustainable development goals in the 'kaleidoscopic' rural landscape, confirming the need of place-specific approaches to socio-ecological complexity and the partial effectiveness of generalized, top-down measures.

Against the archetypal vision of economic backwardness of agricultural and forest systems, Transitional Rural Landscapes shows a dynamic image of rural landscapes under the increasing impact of climate change, providing novel interpretations, conceptual definitions, and operational tools designed to reduce ecological fragility and economic vulnerability.

Today's Supreme Court justices bristle at the label "politicians in robes," insisting that they operate above the fray of partisan politics. But for the first century of the nation's history, the Court was unmistakably a political institution, both by design and in practice. Justices were fully expected to engage in partisan politics-there was no concern that such engagement would lead to corruption or undue bias-and they remained deeply involved in civic debate and the electoral process while on the bench. In addition to hearing cases in the capital, each justice spent much of his time "riding circuit" and presiding over federal trial courts. On circuit and in Washington, nineteenth-century justices wrote for partisan newspapers, drafted legislation, advised partisan allies, campaigned for colleagues, and even ran for political offices from the bench. Through these political interactions, members of the Court helped shape debates about the Constitution's meaning at a time when most Americans did not believe in judicial supremacy.

In this sweeping history, Rachel A. Shelden, one of America's leading voices on the history of the Court, brings readers inside the social and political world of its justices, recovering their essential role in the era's turbulent politics. She also charts shifts at the turn of the twentieth century, when members of the Court and the legal community refashioned the judiciary as an apolitical institution, setting the stage for an increasingly more powerful-and more isolated-modern Court. The Political Supreme Court is required reading for anyone interested in the legal and political underpinnings of today's judicial power.

This book unpacks the distinctive dynamics of public diplomacy between Saudi Arabia and the United States in the post-9/11 period by examining the "King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP)", launched in 2005, which has largely escaped academic scrutiny. The September 11 attacks underscored the importance of public diplomacy as a key instrument for repairing lost trust between Saudi Arabia and the United States (US). A central challenge for the Kingdom is pursuing an approach to public diplomacy beyond the Muslim world without undermining core national interests. Unlike the US, Saudi Arabia has historically had limited soft power and lacks robust public diplomacy tools or experience beyond Arab and Muslim societies.

Departing from the classic understanding of public diplomacy as a one-way flow dispensed by great powers, this book offers theoretical insights into the particularities of public diplomacy between two states with unequal power resources. KASP was conceived with a public diplomacy mandate; its key innovation lies in establishing a two-way platform that delivers image-repair benefits for both sides. In doing so, the author argues, Saudi Arabia was able to mitigate the power asymmetry to some extent. This book advances understanding of how to conduct public diplomacy in asymmetrical power contexts-specifically from the perspective of a non-Western middle power-and will be of interest to scholars, students, and policymakers in political sociology, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern politics, and International Relations.

A thoughtful and provocative meditation on both the potential and limits of constitutionalism.

In the early twenty-first century, constitutionalism confronts numerous pressures and critiques. Some prominent critics are concerned that constitutionalism's modern form, in which high courts play a large role, limits popular self-governance. By committing their nations to detailed social and economic policies-from neoliberal requirements for balanced budgets to constitutionalized social welfare and environmental rights-many modern constitutions might make promises they cannot keep and be unduly rigid in the face of changing social, economic, and environmental conditions. Meanwhile, the rise of proto-authoritarian elected leaders around the world shows that constitutions are vulnerable to, and may even enable, democratic backsliding.

Mark Tushnet and Bojan Bugaric argue that addressing each of these serious concerns through constitutional design and innovation is potentially valuable, but paradoxically, every remedy also carries with it the possibility that it will intensify the very conditions it seeks to ameliorate. Instead, Tushnet and Bugaric propose a "thin" idea of constitutionalism and suggest that we should scale back our expectations for what constitutionalism can achieve. Political mobilization, led by people attuned to the economic and cultural causes of democratic backsliding, is a better bet.

This book offers an original, critical analysis of the governance of sexual labour in Greece, tracing how state regulationism and feminist interventions have systematically separated sex work from other forms of women's labour, constructing it as an exceptional field requiring heightened surveillance, discipline, and control. By analysing how feminist currents in Greece have at times aligned with state agendas-embracing punitive approaches under the banner of gender justice-it challenges dominant narratives that obscure class dynamics, migration realities, and the broader political economy of reproductive and intimate labour. At the same time, the book foregrounds sex workers' strategies of resistance, community-building, and collective action.

The author wishes to dedicate this book to the memory of Paola Revenioti, who passed away shortly before publication.