This open access edited volume introduces the concept of causal mechanisms to explore new ways of explaining the global dynamics of social policy, and shows that a mechanism-based approach provides several advantages over established approaches for studying social policy. The introductory chapter outlines the mechanism-based approach, which stands out by modularisation and a clear focus…
Drawing on a number of disciplines and an ethnographic analysis of 250 Facebook political groups, Marichal explores how Facebook's emphasis on social connection impacts key dimensions of political participation: e.g. mobilization, deliberation, and attitude formation.
Academic discussion of climate‑related human mobility has understandably focused on the places where people are especially vulnerable to climate‑related harm: the Global South. Yet, the unique biophysical, legal and socio‑political characteristics of the Nordic region, as well as its roles as both ‘home’ and ‘host’ to climate‑related mobilities, justify its independent attention…
This book argues that a resilient region should act reactively and proactively in the face of shocks and disruptions and asserts that the institutionalization of regional cooperation may be the answer to development challenges in times of uncertainty and instability. It considers regional, transregional, and subregional cooperation initiatives for building regional resilience and critically ex…
Constitutional adjudication is a subject of fascination for scholars. Judges may annul the will of a democratically elected Parliament in counter-majoritarian fashion. Although conceived as a remedy against majoritarianism, judges also decide cases by voting. Whether they do so through simple majorities or supermajorities is not trivial. The debate around supermajorities has awakened anew am…
Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book discusses the potential of social innovation in the pursuit of social justice in Africa. In the twenty-first century, social innovation and entrepreneurship have attracted renewed attention as a way of promoting social justice and addressing challenges of poverty and inequality. Drawing on perspectives from human rights, economics, business, dev…
The world food crisis (1972–1975) gave rise to new development concepts. To eradicate world hunger, small peasants were supposed to use ‘modern’ inputs like high-yielding seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation. This would turn subsistence producers into business owners, transform rural areas, invigorate national economies and the crisis-stricken world economy and thus stabilize capi…
The “digital economy” is a conceptual umbrella referring to markets, organizations and their networks that are based on digital technologies, communication, data processing and e-commerce. It is multidimensional and its dynamic structure must be analysed from various dimensions, such as economic – changes in the nature of resources, production factors and economic processes; technological…
This book offers a socially situated view of the emergence of emotionality for additional language (L2) learners in classroom interaction in Japan. Grounded in a complexity perspective, the author argues that emotions need to be studied as they are dynamically experienced and understood in all of their multidimensional colors by individuals (in interaction). Via practitioner research, Sampso…
This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and highlights the progress they have made in mainstreaming gender as a key issue in global climate governance. It is now commonplace for gender to be framed as a political issue in global climate politics within academic scholarship, but there is typically a lack of robust empirica…