Research on global norm diffusion and institutional transfer has often neglected the agency of the governed. This collection argues that limited statehood – the lack of state capacities in most parts of the global South – provides opportunities for the governed to raise their voices and be listened to. Thus, people on the receiving end of development cooperation, state building, or security interventions can significantly shape global dynamics of normative and institutional change. Drawing on the emerging body of literature on the agency of the governed, this book assesses the current dynamics of transfer and diffusion studies at the interstice of political science and social anthropology. By focusing on the agency of the governed, the authors integrate a broad spectrum of issues and debates, from the proliferation of global norms to state and security building to international policy cooperation. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of global politics and international relations, particularly those focusing on the global South. It was originally published as a special issue of the online journal Third World Thematics.

The Indian Supreme Court, the South African Constitutional Court and the Colombian Constitutional Court have been among the most important and creative courts in the Global South. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, they are seen as activist tribunals that have contributed (or attempted to contribute) to the structural transformation of the public and private spheres of their countries. The cases issued by these courts are creating a constitutionalism of the Global South. This book addresses in a direct and detailed way the jurisprudence of these Courts on three key topics: access to justice, cultural diversity and socioeconomic rights. This volume is a valuable contribution to the discussion about the contours and structure of contemporary constitutionalism. It makes explicit that this discussion has interlocutors both in the Global South and Global North while showing the common discourse between them and the differences on how they interpret and solve key constitutional problems.

From the acclaimed author and scholar James C. Scott, the compelling tale of Asian peoples who until recently have stemmed the vast tide of state-making to live at arm’s length from any organized state society For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stateless. Among the strategies employed by the people of Zomia to remain stateless are physical dispersion in rugged terrain; agricultural practices that enhance mobility; pliable ethnic identities; devotion to prophetic, millenarian leaders; and maintenance of a largely oral culture that allows them to reinvent their histories and genealogies as they move between and around states. In accessible language, James Scott, recognized worldwide as an eminent authority in Southeast Asian, peasant, and agrarian studies, tells the story of the peoples of Zomia and their unlikely odyssey in search of self-determination. He redefines our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even our fundamental ideas about what constitutes civilization, and challenges us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of “internal colonialism.” This new perspective requires a radical reevaluation of the civilizational narratives of the lowland states. Scott’s work on Zomia represents a new way to think of area studies that will be applicable to other runaway, fugitive, and marooned communities, be they Gypsies, Cossacks, tribes fleeing slave raiders, Marsh Arabs, or San-Bushmen.

By intelligence officials for intelligent people

One of the major objectives of good governance is human development. Many worry that without good governance, many developing countries may become failed states. Using one of the worst industrial disasters in Bangladesh to date, Haroon A. Khan helps further our understanding of the importance of bureaucratic capacity for achieving good governance and offers a new paradigm for a merit system to improve governance. In doing so, he introduces the reader to the concept of good governance and its importance by investigating its relationship with failed states, globalization, bureaucratic effectiveness, and human development. The Idea of Good Governance and the Politics of the Global South will be useful for the students interested in political science, public administration and international relations.

The final writings of Samir Amin—a mix of personal experiences and theoretical analysis of global challenges and movements In this second volume of his memoirs, Amin takes us on a journey to a dizzying array of countries, recounting the stages of his ongoing dialogue over several decades with popular movements struggling for a better future. As in his many works over the years, The Long Revolution of the Global South combines Amin’s astute theoretical analyses of the challenges confronting the world’s oppressed peoples with militant action. In these final writings based on his life, Amin presents us with theoretical interventions, analyses of political conjunctures, and narration of personal experiences. Amin’s reminiscences of travels to places too often overlooked by the world at large are a joy to read. We even catch a glimpse of some of his memorable—and sometimes not so memorable—culinary adventures.

This open access volume addresses the role of external actors in social protection in the Global South, from the Second World War until today, analysing the influence of colonial powers, superpowers during the Cold War and contemporary donor agencies. Following an introduction to the analysis of external actors in social policy making in the Global South, the contributions explore which external actors were dominant in the decades after World War II, and how they shaped early and contemporary social protection making in developing countries. The latter half of the collection elucidates important players in the contemporary transnational social policy arena, such as donor organizations and international organizations, and critically evaluates the potential for and limits of the explanatory power of external actors in social protection making in the Global South, considering the relative contribution of external and domestic influences. By examining how transnational relationships and external actors have influenced the formation, development and transformation of social policies in the developing world, this collection will be an invaluable resource for scholars interested in social protection in the Global South from a range of disciplines. These include political science, social policy, and sociology, as well as historians of the welfare state, international relations scholars and scholars working on global and transnational social policy and development policy.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South presents new comparative perspectives on Religious Education (RE) across the Global South. Including 23 chapters written by scholars from the Global North and South, this is the first authoritative reference work on the subject. The handbook is thematically organised into seven sections. The first three sections deal with provision, response to changes in contemporary society, and decolonizing RE. The next four sections explore young people and RE, perspectives on teachers, RE in higher education, and finally, challenges and opportunities for RE. The term 'Global South' is used here primarily to signify the deep economic divide with the Global North, but the concept is also examined in historical, geographical, political, social and cultural terms, including the indelible influence of religion in all four broadly defined regions. Exploring RE from local, cross-national as well as regional and sub-regional perspectives, the handbook examines RE from its diverse past, present realities, and envisioned future revealing not only tensions, contestations, injustices and inequalities of power, but importantly, how inclusive forms of RE can help solve these problems.

The first comprehensive study to explain the workings of transgovernmental environmental and nuclear cooperation across the so-called 'Global South'.

Education in the Global South faces several key interrelated challenges, for which Open Educational Resources (OER) are seen to be part of the solution. These challenges include: unequal access to education; variable quality of educational resources, teaching, and student performance; and increasing cost and concern about the sustainability of education. The Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project seeks to build on and contribute to the body of research on how OER can help to improve access, enhance quality and reduce the cost of education in the Global South. This volume examines aspects of educator and student adoption of OER and engagement in Open Educational Practices (OEP) in secondary and tertiary education as well as teacher professional development in 21 countries in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The ROER4D studies and syntheses presented here aim to help inform Open Education advocacy, policy, practice and research in developing countries.