This edited volume offers a collection of papers that present a comparative analysis of the development of Shari’a in countries with Muslim minorities, such as America, Australia, Germany, and Italy, as well as countries with Muslim majorities, such as Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Tunisia. The Sociology of Shari’a provides a global analysis of these important legal transformations a…
This volume explores the role of territory in the creation, maintenance and extension of a new type of frontier, the electronic frontier, from a social and economic point of view. It departs from the earlier concepts of borders – state, social, economic, ethnic, religious, etc. – to investigate the fluidity of borders and their shift towards an axis-based paradigm within the free-movement …
Security concerns increasingly influence foreign aid: how Western countries give aid, to whom and why. With contributions from experts in the field, this book examines the impact of security issues on six of the world's largest aid donors, as well as on key crosscutting issues such as gender equality and climate change.
Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the earth belongs to the living. His letter to James Madison is often quoted for the proposition that we should not be bound to the 'dead hand of the past', suggesting that the Constitution should instead be interpreted as a living, breathing document. Less well-known is Madison's response, in which he said the improvements made by the dead - including the U…
Japan's savings are among the highest in the world, and these high rates have played a valuable role throughout the post-war period. However, over the next several decades, Japan's population will be ageing rapidly. Will this lower Japanese savings rates? Using up-to-date financial and demographical data, author Robert Dekle finds that the answer to this question is an emphatic 'yes'. Understa…
After the Mongol period, Persian was the official written language in Iran, Central Asia and India. A vast amount of documents relating to administration and social life were produced and yet, unlike Ottoman and Arabic documents, Persian historical resources have received very little critical attention. This book is the first to use Persian Documents as the sources of social history in Early Mo…
This book is the first case study on Wenda Gu that systematically investigates the cultural and artistic context of his life and works, examining selected images of his artwork spanning from the late 1970s to the early 21st century. It is the first monograph to provide a comprehensive and profound study of a Chinese contemporary artist. In the 1980s, the School of Hermeneutics attempted to laun…
ABSTRACT This is an in-depth account of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, a uniquely cosmopolitan institution established in the wake of China's defeat in the Opium Wars (1842 to 43), and a central feature of the Treaty Port system. The British-dominated service was headed by the famous Robert Hart who founded a far-reaching customs administration that also encompassed other re…
Understanding the governance of complex social-ecological systems is vital in a world faced with rapid environmental change, conflicts over dwindling natural resources, stark disparities between rich and poor and the crises of sustainability. Improved understanding is also essential to promote governance approaches that are underpinned by justice and equity principles and that aim to reduce ine…
Drawing upon recent progress in development economics and political science, the book provides fresh analysis of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) countries transition to a market economy by tracing the impact of natural resource endowment. The book examines the synergies between energy-rich and energy-poor states and highlights the practical consequences of both well-managed and poorly-manag…