For those wishing to acquire knowledge on national development issues, this comprehensive compendium traverses a spectrum of subjects that the audience ought to be well acquainted with. The Editors provide instructive findings regarding national development, economic growth and their determinants, but they also offer historical perspectives on the subject and the implications for developing countries. The book addresses a suite of critical themes regarded by development experts to be germane in considering the pertinence of policies and their effective execution. These seven general thematic areas are explored: ¢ Leadership, governance, policy and strategy ¢ Public sector and public financial management ¢ Culture, institutions and people ¢ Natural resources ¢ Science, technology and infrastructure ¢ Private sector and financial markets ¢ Marketing, branding and service delivery This thematic approach enables the contributors to explore the impact of the constituents of each subject area on national development, within the context of a developing economy. The significance of the findings for the relevant stakeholders is consequently reviewed. The combination of theory and practice makes the book and its contents unique.

The Handbook of Research on Information Communication Technology Policy: Trends, Issues and Advancements provides a comprehensive and reliable source of information on current developments in information communication technologies. This source includes ICT policies; a guide on ICT policy formulation, implementation, adoption, monitoring, evaluation and application; and background information for scholars and researchers interested in carrying out research on ICT policies.

"This book provides research, analytical methods, techniques, and development policies in ICT adoption and diffusion in Africa and around the globe, highlighting the major trends in ICT applications and rural development"--Provided by publisher.

Over the past decade, there has been continual development and renewal of strategies and practices surrounding e-governance. Governments around the world have embraced new information and communication technologies to increase the efficiency of internal processes, deliver better and more integrated services to citizens and businesses, invite citizen and stakeholder participation in planning decisions, improve communication, and sometimes even enhance democratic processes. Global Strategy and Practice of E-Governance: Examples from Around the World provides readers with an overview of relevant strategy and policy-level theoretical frameworks and examples, as well as up-to-date implementations from around the world. This book offers valuable insights into best practices, as well as some of the issues and challenges surrounding the governance of and with information and communication technologies in a globalized, knowledge-based world.

New media, development and globalization are the key terms through which the future is being imagined and performed in governance, development initiatives and public and political discourse. Yet these authoritative terms have arisen within particular cultural and ideological contexts. In using them, we risk promoting over-generalized and seemingly unchallengeable frameworks for action and knowledge production which can blind us to the complex global patterns and promise of social reality. This compelling book forces us to look at these terms afresh. Drawing on more than ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in Latin America, West Africa and South Asia, Don Slater seeks to challenge these terms as voicing specific northern narratives rather than universal truths, and to see them from the perspective of southern people and communities who are equally concerned to understand new machines for communication, new models of social change and new maps of social connection. The central question the book poses is: how we can democratize the ways we think and practise new media, development and globalization, opening these terms to dialogue and challenge within North-South relations? Rooted in sociological debates, New Media, Development and Globalization will also be a provocative contribution to media and cultural studies, studies of digital culture, development studies, geography and anthropology.

The renaissance in urban theory draws directly from a fresh focus on the neglected realities of cities beyond the west and embraces the global south as the epicentre of urbanism. This Handbook engages the complex ways in which cities of the global south and the global north are rapidly shifting, the imperative for multiple genealogies of knowledge production, as well as a diversity of empirical entry points to understand contemporary urban dynamics. The Handbook works towards a geographical realignment in urban studies, bringing into conversation a wide array of cities across the global south – the ‘ordinary’, ‘mega’, ‘global’ and ‘peripheral’. With interdisciplinary contributions from a range of leading international experts, it profiles an emergent and geographically diverse body of work. The contributions draw on conflicting and divergent debates to open up discussion on the meaning of the city in, or of, the global south; arguments that are fluid and increasingly contested geographically and conceptually. It reflects on critical urbanism, the macro- and micro-scale forces that shape cities, including ideological, demographic and technological shifts, and constantly changing global and regional economic dynamics. Working with southern reference points, the chapters present themes in urban politics, identity and environment in ways that (re)frame our thinking about cities. The Handbook engages the twenty-first-century city through a ‘southern urban’ lens to stimulate scholarly, professional and activist engagements with the city.

An analysis of the problems and possibilities of the information revolution in developing countries, taking into account political, institutional, and cultural dynamics and structures.

The unwelcomed arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities and inequalities in accessing educational opportunities among different social groups. Abruptly, the idea of inclusivity in education has become more of an abstract phenomenon that widens the digital divide and creates social injustice. The resulting intensification of digital disparities demands an immediate coordinated response from all education and government stakeholders to guarantee that no one is left behind as we navigate the so-called new normal. Without an appropriate intervention and sound policy guidance, negative repercussions may be so widespread that they will remain a problem in the education sector far into the future. Socioeconomic Inclusion During an Era of Online Education aims to answer emerging questions on inclusive online education by exploring and collating the experiences and lessons learned during the implementation of emergency remote education. With the earlier-than-expected arrival of the online education era, best practices and innovative approaches from various educational institutions are concrete paradigms for safeguarding the promise of an undivided future of learning through equal access to quality education from a distance. Covering topics from learning space to education governance, this reference work is ideal for policymakers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, scholars, instructors, and students seeking to adjust and adapt to technology-enabled education during and after the COVID-19 era.