Public finance is often considered a discipline where numbers, efficiency, and productivity talk. And while gender budgeting, a field of public financial management (PFM), has gained increasing attention in recent years, the personal stories of the women driving this work have remained largely invisible. This is the first book to share unprecedented insider narratives from the women shaping public finance and public policy.

It brings together the stories and conversations of 22 professional women from around the globe who are all working in the fields of PFM and gender budgeting, a space largely dominated by men. These authentic first-person accounts provide rare insights into both the barriers and breakthroughs experienced by women in a field traditionally dominated by technical discourse and masculine perspectives. It demonstrates how women's presence at decision-making tables directly opens the discussions on inclusive, sustainable, and effective public finance outcomes. It provides:

• Authentic insights into gender representation in PFM and how it can be advanced within the structures of public finance-from ministries of finance to donor agencies and civil society.
• Encouragement and strategic guidance in navigating leadership, reform fatigue, and institutional resistance, particularly women and underrepresented groups.
• A storytelling approach, helping readers to relate to this largely technical area.
• Concrete examples of successful reform and personal stories of resilience, valuable for professionals creating capacity-building programs, applying change management, or shaping institutional culture.

This important book is for public finance professionals, civil servants, economists, gender policy advisors, donor agency staff, civil society organizations, and graduate students in gender studies, public policy, governance, and development programs, providing both inspiration and practical pathways for creating more equitable financial systems worldwide.

Combining various data types, survey data, satellite imagery and historical records, the chapters illustrate how a person's life chances and development outcomes can be determined through geography, via access to infrastructure, environmental risk and governance. They explore key topics ranging from colonial legacies to the use of artificial intelligence, calling for more transparent and context-sensitive approaches to measuring progress, especially where data is scarce or politically restricted. Contributors advocate for a spatially-informed and justice-oriented research agenda that bridges science, policy and practice to build resilience and dignity across diverse communities.

The Geography of Poverty is an essential resource for scholars and students of human geography, development studies and social policy. Governance policymakers and environmental scientists will similarly benefit from its actionable insights and political depth.

This monograph is one of the first scholarly investigations into the literary representations of the lived realities of Ugandan-Indians, often referred to as "Passenger Traders", who were exiled in 1972 under the Idi Amin regime. Employing an innovative interdisciplinary methodology that combines diaspora criticism, human geography, memory studies, and childhood studies, this book provides a nuanced analytical framework and makes a significant
contribution to understanding diasporic narratives in the Indian Ocean region. It delves into the subjective experiences of these exiled traders, exploring their struggle and triumph through the lens of contemporary memoir and fiction by authors such as Shenaaz Nanji, Tasneem Jamal, Neema Shah, and Hafsa Zayyan. Through a blend of historical insight and literary critique, this book unveils the rich yet troubled legacy of the passenger traders amidst the postcolonial reality of multiple dwelling and displacement. The book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of literature, both African and Indian, migration and diaspora studies, memory studies, childhood studies, and Indian Ocean studies.

Politics of Feminist New Materialisms at Music Playschools: Musicking in the Middle examines how feminist new materialist politics unfold within diverse music playschool practices in Finland.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork across five distinct groups - including sessions for babies, asylum seekers, deaf and hard-of-hearing children, and children with disabilities - the book explores how affirmative politics intersect with restrictive forces of power. By analysing the simultaneity of limiting and empowering forces of power, it situates feminist new materialisms within ongoing conversations about intersectionalities, their dynamic transformations and mutual impact of human and more-than-human elements in the formation of differences. The study discusses the concepts of the middle and middling as methodological and political tools by attuning to human languages, movement, silence, vibrations, and rhythms within musical encounters.

Politics of Feminist New Materialisms at Music Playschools: Musicking in the Middle is of interest for scholars and students in feminist theory, gender studies, new materialisms, (ethno)musicology, ethnographic methods, childhood studies, and early music education.

Contributors assess structural advancements, including a shift in the debate around the replication crisis, as well as new theories on fundamental constructs such as extreme attitudes and judgment under uncertainty. Chapters explore the impact of technological developments, health disparity, consumer beliefs, trust and complaints, analysing consumer agency, behaviour and attitudes in these contexts. This book provides a platform for progressing research and practice, highlighting methods and examples that promote further studies in this field.

Advancing Consumer Psychology is a valuable resource for scholars and students of business and management, psychology, marketing and economics. Practitioners in branding, business and marketing will also benefit from the insights into the changing nature of consumer psychology and projections for its future.

Navigating Dynamic Campus-Community Relationships explores how higher education institutions and their community partners adapt and reimagine engagement practices in response to shifting demographics. Utilizing the conceptual frameworks around anchor institutions and place-based community engagement, this volume explores the paradox of higher education as both rooted in place and also responsive to dynamic change. Featuring multivocal narratives from institutional and community members, it offers transformative insights and actionable strategies to help community members, administrators, instructors, researchers, and students foster agile, responsive partnerships.

A Co-Publication with Campus Compact.

The Transnationalisation of Turkish Islam builds on current academic debates pertaining to the use of religion in global politics. By examining how and why religion is used as a tool for foreign policy aims, as well as for perpetuating a state's identity and institutional capacity at home and abroad, the book presents a theory-informed discussion on contemporary Turkey's transnational politics of religion from a comparative perspective. The country's use of religion as a political tool outside of its borders has been studied in Continental Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Balkans thanks to extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted between 2016 and 2020.
The book investigates how and why Turkey has implemented similar tools with different aims in different geographic territories and the underlying material and normative motivations for this pursuit. The main argument presented in the study is that Turkey, under the rule of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) (Justice and Development Party), employs religion for three fundamental reasons: to bolster its regional and global influence, to access regions or groups that are difficult to reach through traditional foreign policy tools, and to alter domestic political balances or amass power.
The Transnationalisation of Turkish Islam will appeal to students and scholars of political science, international relations, and public policy.

What are the goals of the major Indian philosophers and what are the methods of rational inquiry used in their pursuit? Philosophy in Classical India is a much-needed introduction to the philosophical texts, traditions and arguments of Indian philosophy. Philosophical rather than mystical or religious in approach and assuming no prior knowledge of key texts, Jonardon Ganeri examines the following topics:

• the motive and method of rational inquiry: the early Nyaya
• rationality, emptiness and the objective view: the philosophy of Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka Buddhism
• the rational basis of metaphysics: Vaise?ika metaphysics
• reduction, exclusion and rational reconstruction: the philosophy of Di?naga's Yogacara Buddhism
• rationality, harmony and perspective: Jaina epistemology and metaphysics
• reason in equilibrium: Ga?gesa's new Nyaya
• balance and repost: public reason in Theravada Buddhism
• practical reasoning in Mima?sa and the Dharmasastra

This second edition has been substantially updated, with the addition of new chapters on Theravada and Mima?sa.

All chapters and further reading have been updated to reflect changes in scholarship and the publication of new editions and translations of primary texts, making Philosophy in Classical India an ideal introduction to Indian philosophy from the perspective of analytical philosophy.

We live in a society that valorises speech and treats silence as a harm to be broken. This assumption runs especially deep in mental health discourse, where silence is both medicalised - as a symptom and as a cause - and targeted by campaigns urging people to open up. Silence in Mood Disorders challenges the dominant understanding of silence in mental illness, arguing that it is not only conceptually impoverished but potentially damaging to the very people it claims to help.

Drawing on first-person accounts of depression and bipolar disorder alongside phenomenology, social epistemology, and silence studies, this book shows that silence in mood disorders is a far more diverse and complex phenomenon than prevailing assumptions allow. To make sense of this diversity, the book develops a set of interconnected conceptual resources for thinking about silence. Central among these is an account of silence as a fragile, embodied, and epistemically significant human capacity, whose disruption may take different forms in depression and mania. These resources are then used to suggest how mental health research, clinical practice, policy, and activism might respond to silence with greater care and discernment.

Silence in Mood Disorders will appeal to scholars and advanced students in philosophy of psychiatry, phenomenology, and social epistemology, and will reward anyone working in mental health research, the medical humanities, or disability studies.

This illuminating Research Agenda opens up current debates and outlines potential developments in participatory mapping, an approach and set of practices relating to people's spatial knowledge and dedicated to spatial and environmental justice. Leading experts analyse scientific, methodological, social-political-cultural and technical issues in participatory mapping and Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), emphasising ethics and good practice.

Investigating key issues, contested approaches and methodologies, researchers highlight the ethical dimensions of respect, safety and authority of knowledge. Chapters assess participatory mapping and PPGIS in citizen science and in affirming identity, with specific applications ranging from mapping indigenous culture and memories, to traditional land management and inclusive urban accessibility. Critiquing both innovative developments such as soundscapes and projection models, as well as established tools such as 3D modelling, remote sensing and phone apps, chapters also address meta issues, including evaluating outcomes of mapping applications and the impacts of AI.

A Research Agenda for Participatory Mapping and PPGIS is a valuable resource for scholars and students of geography, participatory research approaches and politics and public policy. Practitioners looking to implement PPGIS will benefit from its evaluation of current debates and potential developments in the field.

Key Features:

• Adopts a comparative and cross-jurisdictional perspective
• Identifies key principles that can make arbitration cost decisions fairer and more consistent
• Explores issues such as impecuniosity, security for costs, and other factors which can pose barriers to parties accessing arbitration
• Explains how and why procedural costs arise and how they are paid, as well as how they are apportioned between the parties
• Provides a systematic examination of the different types of costs that arise in international commercial arbitration, including legal fees, tribunal costs, institutional fees, and other related expenses.

Costs in International Commercial Arbitration is a valuable resource for arbitration practitioners and legal professionals seeking detailed and actionable insights into costs in international commercial disputes. It will also benefit policymakers and institutions looking to enhance transparency and consistency in arbitration frameworks, alongside students and scholars researching dispute resolution.

Rape trials are inherently complex, often operating differently from other criminal trials. These trials are also complicated by the impact of societal attitudes about sexual offences, often referred to as rape myths, which can influence jurors' deliberations in rape trials. This book explores the variety of ways in which rape trials can be researched in order to determine how the laws in this area are applied in practice, and the extent to which attitudes and broader societal contexts can influence the trial process. Divided into three parts, Part I offers a guide on best practice in the various research methods which can be adopted to study rape trials. These include interviews with practitioners and victim-survivors; analysis of trial transcripts; trial observations; and jury research. Parts II and III provide a thematic overview of a variety of international case studies, demonstrating the rich insights which empirical research on rape trials can produce. All of the chapters are written by leading experts who have direct experience of conducting empirical research in this area. The book will be a valuable resource for a range of academics, practitioners, stakeholders and policy-makers researching and working in the area of sexual violence.

This book explores the intellectual legacy of John Agnew, one of geography's most influential thinkers of the past 50 years. It examines Agnew's transformative thinking on geopolitics, territory, place, and context, demonstrating how his ideas reshaped political geography and continue to inform contemporary scholarship across geography, political science, and international relations.

Through a comprehensive understanding of Agnew's contributions to geographic thought and their enduring relevance, this book offers reflections on key concepts such as the territorial trap, critical geopolitics, context, and place-based politics, showing how Agnew challenged conventional wisdom and encouraged new ways of thinking about geographical concepts. The chapters also subtly reveal how the practices of scholarly collaboration, academic mentorship, and the ways of conducting research have changed and evolved over recent decades. By connecting Agnew's ideas across these changing contexts, this volume serves as both a retrospective appreciation and a forward-looking resource for geographic inquiry.

This volume is essential reading for scholars and students in political geography, human geography, international relations, political science, and political sociology. It will appeal to those interested in geographic theory, geopolitical analysis, territory, context, and the concept of place. It also reveals how research unfolds within and across disciplinary boundaries, offering insights into collaborative scholarship at the intersection of space, power, and politics.

This is the first book dedicated to Alexandria's religious world, reconstructing its sacred topography, material culture, and ritual life across seven centuries from the establishment of the Ptolemaic Kingdom through its transformation under Roman imperial rule, up to the twilight of pagan antiquity.

It offers a systematic, evidence-based reconstruction of religious life in ancient Alexandria, examining the emergence of a structured 'sacred confederation' of cults under the Ptolemies, the mechanics of ruler worship and sacred kingship, and the formation of a distinctive Alexandrian religious identity from both Greek and Egyptian traditions. The study extends into the Roman period, tracing the transformation of the city's major sanctuaries, the richness of its civic and funerary culture, and glimpses of domestic cult and folk practice where the material record allows. Drawing on architecture, sculpture, inscriptions, funerary art, and recent underwater and salvage discoveries, the study treats material evidence as an independent record of religious life rather than an illustration of ancient literary sources - a methodological approach that repeatedly challenges and revises the city's inherited scholarly image.

Alexandria of Egypt, The Divine Cosmopolis is suitable for students and scholars of Hellenistic and Roman archaeology and history, Egyptian archaeology and Egyptology, and ancient religion. It is also of interest to researchers working on sacred topography, multicultural urbanism, and the archaeology of religion in the ancient Mediterranean world.

The Balkans in the Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500 is the first publication of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of Southeastern Europe during the late medieval period. Scholars have long recognized the 14th and 15th centuries as an extremely important period in the history of the medieval Balkans. This was an era of intense political and military tumult, financial crisis, and social disruption, but also a time of cultural and intellectual innovation and achievement.

While a growing body of literature has focused on developments in the Byzantine Empire and Latin Greece (i.e., the states created by Western/Latin rulers in the Greek Peninsula and some of the Aegean islands), most of the other states in the region, including Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania, have been largely neglected. What is more, no study has examined the whole peninsula as a geographic unit. The ultimate ambition of this 12-chapter volume is to fill this gap and produce a closely argued, fresh interpretation of events for the entire region, from Dalmatia, Wallachia, and Moldavia in the north to Byzantium and the Latin states in the south.

This book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students and scholars with academic interests in the medieval Balkans, as well as to readers wanting to learn more about the history of the region.

As businesses navigate an era of rapid technological advancements, global competition, and evolving market dynamics, the field of strategic management must adapt to meet new challenges. This book presents fresh perspectives, models, and frameworks that redefine how organizations formulate and execute strategy in today's complex environment. Bridging theory and practice, this book explores fundamental principles of strategic management, the impact of digital transformation, emerging business trends, and evolving decision making processes. It introduces innovative methodologies, including strategic quality management, business portfolio analysis, and empowerment-based strategies, while addressing critical questions on how strategy has evolved and what tools professionals can use to stay ahead. Through qualitative research and case studies, the volume provides actionable insights into modern strategic management approaches.

A must-read for advanced students, researchers, practitioners, and business leaders, this book offers a comprehensive yet accessible guide to understanding and implementing strategic management in the modern era. Whether new to the field or looking to enhance your strategic thinking, this book equips you with the knowledge and frameworks to navigate the ever-changing business landscape.

Speech-to-Text Interpreting: User-Centred Communication Support for Equal Access explores speech-to-text interpreting (STTI), providing essential insights for practitioners, trainers, and decision-makers ensuring equitable communication access for deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

Grounded in Translation & Interpreting Studies, the book demonstrates user-centred STTI implementation across typical interpreting settings. Drawing on video recordings, comparative text analysis, and interviews with users and over 30 interpreters, it provides practical assessment tools considering user expectations and multimodal communication contexts. The book addresses critical professional challenges from stress management to ethical dilemmas, outlining essential competences for user-centred service delivery. Each chapter features enriching activities and problem-solving exercises, with additional resources. Particularly timely amid advancing AI transcription technology, the book articulates human STTI's continued value through user support, individualized orientation, trust-building, and data security. A global survey of STTI service provision further informs the analysis.

Beyond equipping interpreters with theoretical and practical tools, the book supports training development and guides policymakers in establishing communication support guidelines. The text highlights DHH advocacy while advancing STTI understanding as a profession and an academic discipline. An essential text for students, teachers and researchers working in STTI , this is also a valuable resource for public institutions and private individuals employing STT interpreters.